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December 30

Saints, 
Now cometh 2019, and the whole world lies in utter turmoil.  Daily, the troubles magnify and humanity is near its wits’ end.  Will this be the year of the Rapture?  Surely, we do not even know exactly which year this year is!  There are calendar problems.  Nor do we know, beyond dogma and interpretation, when His Kingdom began—nor which phase sets off which triggers: at the Incarnation, at the Cross and the Atonement, at the Ascension, at Pentecost?  We know it has been about 2000 years plus or minus since his Incarnation, but that would leave us short of 2000 for his Ascension, 33 years later.  What we do suspect is that this Age of the Church may be about 2000 years for the “two days” of Peter’s recollection of the simile of “a thousand years is as a day to the LORD,” and that Jesus spent two days in the Tomb and resurrected on the third; we know throughout Scripture of the timing of “third days” as a time when completions arrive, and we know the Lord said, “and on the third day, I shall be perfected” — this of his Resurrection but also, in type, of his coming Kingdom?  We also know that the LORD created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh.  We know the creation to be about 6000 years ago, and that when Christ returns He will set up an earthly and perfected Kingdom of 1000 years of wonderful rest for the planet for a full “week” of 7,000 years before a final test of humanity and the beginning of Eternity in Heaven for the saints and Eternity in Hell for the rejectors. We know these things as types and foreshadows.  We also have many, many specifics especially in the New Testament as to actual events, timings, days when the End of the Age Events will occur.  We are taught to seek diligently in the texts for more information buried there, and yet also we are told that we may be allowed to “know the times and the seasons,” but “no man knows the hour or day, not even the Son” (at least at that time).  The sum of the matter is that we should watch and pray, inquire diligently and continually, but also trust the matter to our Almighty Father and to his Son, our Lord, and to the Holy Spirit which abides with us and in us, comforting us and also guiding and instructing us.  If ever there was a day to watch and pray as the obedient are carefully instructed to do, this is it.

Doctrinal “trash-talking” fills the internet.  Voices deny every aspect of apocalyptic events or redesign them to push their own agendas, videos and books.  I see not only Rapture time-setters but complete deniers who claim the subject and the concept of the Rapture are even completely foreign to Scripture, and this in the face of the very use of the term in I Thessalonians 4:15-18, harpazo in Greek (from which we get harpoon in English, a sudden snatching up), rapturos/“rapture” in Jerome’s Vulgate, and “caught up” in the KJV.  We have many New Testament corroborations from Titus 2:11-14 to 1 Corinthians 15 to Revelation 3:10 and many others.  We have Jesus commanding even imploring us to watch in Mark 13:37 and Luke 21:36.  We know the world will not expect the Second Coming, but we are told exactly when to expect it:  3 1/2 years after the Abomination of Desolation committed by the Antichrist in the rebuilt Temple.  We need not watch for that as we know the timing perfectly for that, BUT, we, the saints, are to watch for the Rapture as wise Virgins, filled and prepared by the Holy Spirit in Matthew 25.  Do we stare at the sky? NO.  We watch by believing, by walking by faith, by searching the Scriptures, being aware of the times and the seasons and busy about the Master’s work in faithfulness and prayer and filled with the Holy Spirit.  By every indicator, this is a time to earnestly continue in this watch.  God save us and direct our obedience in this nascent 2019.

***
The Week —

(December 23)
Troubles on the Left: Charges of racism in every direction; Palestinian and Islamic factions; Anti-Semitism, and all the women of sodomite persuasions (“LGBTQQ?”) want their piece of the pie, whilst hypocrisies and contraries rage!
Biblical Christians are pro-woman but anti-feminist.  Feminism is an outward political arm of witchcraft.  Witchcraft, reduced to its essence, is merely rebellion against God’s order (with excuses, finger-pointing and blame).  It is a miserable state to entertain; self-believed, half-formed monstrosities of “spells”/ spiels, eating its own adherents alive with…blame-mongering, miserable temperaments, never satisfied, “…ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/us/womens-march-anti-semitism.html?emc=edit_na_20181223&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=headline
Women’s March Roiled by Accusations of Anti-Semitism
Within days of Donald J. Trump’s election, a diverse group of women united by their concern about the incoming administration gathered at a restaurant in New York to plan a protest march in Washington. They had seen the idea floating on Facebook and wanted to turn it into a reality.
The unity did not last long. Vanessa Wruble, a Brooklyn-based activist, said she told the group that her Jewish heritage inspired her to try to help repair the world. But she said the conversation took a turn when Tamika Mallory, a black gun control activist, and Carmen Perez, a Latina criminal justice reform activist, replied that Jews needed to confront their own role in racism.
The women who gathered that night would go on to organize one of the biggest protests in American history, remarkable not just for its size, but for its inclusive nature. The event on Jan. 21, 2017, inspired thousands of women who had never been involved in politics before to pour their energy into helping Democrats win elections this fall.
But the divisions apparent at that very first meeting continue to haunt the Women’s March organization, as charges of anti-Semitism are now roiling the movement and overshadowing plans for more marches next month.

Ms. Wruble was pushed out of the organization shortly after the march, and she now asserts that her Jewish identity played a role. She went on to help found an organization called March On, which supports local women activists.
The rift is now so dire that there will be two marches on the same day next month on the streets of New York: one led by the Women’s March group, which is billed as being led by women of color, and another by a group0 affiliated with March On that is stressing its denunciation of anti-Semitism.
Ms. Mallory, meanwhile, who is now co-president of the Women’s March group, has been criticized for attending an event by Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam who has been widely reviled for making anti-Semitic remarks. Ms. Mallory has called Mr. Farrakhan “the GOAT,” or “greatest of all time,” on social media.
The accusations of anti-Semitism, which were outlined in an article this month in Tablet, an online Jewish magazine, have prompted some women to reconsider their support for the group.
Some Jewish women have announced on social media that they will not attend the mass protest in Washington on Jan. 19 being organized by the Women’s March group. Last month, Teresa Shook, a white woman from Hawaii who created the first Facebook page proposing a march, called for the group’s leaders, who include Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez, too step down.

Rachel O’Leary Carmona, chief operating officer of the Women’s March group, cast the controversy as the growing pains of a new organization that is struggling to build a diverse coalition. She said steps were being taken to ensure that Jewish women felt welcome, including giving Women’s March leaders education about anti-Semitism and adding Jewish women to the organization’s “unity principles,” which highlight groups that are considered especially vulnerable.
Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez say they categorically condemn anti-Semitism, and that when they asked Ms. Wruble to leave the group, it had nothing to do with her being Jewish. But they acknowledged that the role of Jewish women was discussed in that first meeting.

“Since that conversation, we’ve all learned a lot about how while white Jews, as white people, uphold white supremacy, ALL Jews are targeted by it,” Ms. Mallory said in a statement to The New York Times.
The allegations of anti-Semitism are particularly painful because Women’s March organizers made a commitment from the beginning to work across racial and religious lines, and to be led by what they considered the most “marginalized” women.
Now Women’s March activists are grappling with how they treat Jews — and whether they should be counted as privileged white Americans or “marginalized” minorities, especially in the aftermath of the October mass shooting in Pittsburgh, when 11 people were gunned down at their synagogue.
Tensions around identity have swirled around the Women’s March from its earliest days. Black and Latina women complained on Facebook that white women were planning a march without their input, and that mainstream feminists had long ignored their needs.
Ms. Wruble, a central organizer of the march, says she agrees that white women, including Jews, should grapple with their racial privilege. She put out a call for women of color to join the planning team and was connected with Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez. At that first meeting, Ms. Wruble said, they seemed to want to educate her about a dark side of Jewish history, and told her that Jewish people played a large role in the slave trade and the prison industry.

“I was taken aback,” said Ms. Wruble in her first extensive interview about her experience organizing the Women’s March. “I thought, ‘Maybe there are things I don’t know about my own people.’”
She said she went home that night and searched Google to read about the Jewish role in the slave trade. Up popped a review of “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and the Jews,” a 1991 book by Mr. Farrakhan, which asserts that Jews were especially culpable. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor, has called the book the “bible of the new anti-Semitism.”
Ms. Wruble said she did not dwell on the issue because she wanted to work together on the march, which was only two months away. Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez brought a friend on board, Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist. The three women — and another woman named Bob Bland, a white fashion designer who created one of the first Facebook pages about the march — became the event’s official leaders. They were widely featured in the press as the public face of the movement.
Behind the scenes, Ms. Wruble said she felt cast aside.
She said she was told by one of the march leaders that “we really couldn’t center Jewish women in this or we might turn off groups like Black Lives Matter.” While Black Lives Matter is a diffuse movement, some activists have issued statements expressing solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
At one point, Ms. Wruble said she asked about security for the march and was told by the leaders that the Nation of Islam would be providing it.
“I said, ‘You are going to open up the march to intense criticism,’” Ms. Wruble said, warning that it would be a red flag for Jews. She said they dismissed her concerns in a heated email exchange and accused her of unfairly maligning the Nation of Islam.
As the march grew closer, Ms. Perez gathered a diverse group of activists who created a set of “unity principles” that would tie all marchers together and highlight those viewed as the most vulnerable at the time.

“We must create a society in which all women — including Black women, Indigenous women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian, queer and trans women — are free,” it read.

Ms. Wruble noticed that Jewish women were not included, but said she was too busy with logistics for the march to focus on it.
In an interview, Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez said that they work in communities where Mr. Farrakhan is respected for his role in rehabilitating incarcerated men. They attended the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March in 2015, which Mr. Farrakhan planned.
But they said they did not subscribe to his views about Jewish people and never mentioned the slave trade in that first meeting with Ms. Wruble.
“It never happened,” Ms. Perez said.
They also denied telling Ms. Wruble that she could not be an official leader of the march because she is Jewish.
In fact, they said, they urged her to be more assertive if she wanted public recognition. “A closed mouth does not get fed,” Ms. Mallory told Ms Wruble in an email viewed by The Times.
Ms. Mallory said the Nation of Islam was not hired for security. An internal document obtained by The Times said that the Women’s March group does not ask the religious affiliation of contractors, but said that because private security firms employ a large number of Nation of Islam members, “it is likely” that some members of the sect have provided security for Women’s March events.

Even though the march was a success, Ms. Wruble said that she felt angry and that the event’s official leaders were more focused on celebrity than building the movement. She also felt they were unwilling to confront their own bias against Jews. At a meeting days after the march, an argument broke out between Ms. Wruble and the other leaders.
Ms. Mallory and Ms. Perez began berating Ms. Wruble, according to Evvie Harmon, a white woman who helped organize the march, and who attended the meeting at Ms. Mallory’s apartment complex.
“They were talking about, ‘You people this,’ and ‘You people that’ and the kicker was, ‘You people hold all the wealth.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, they are talking about her being Jewish,’” said Ms. Harmon, whose account was first published by Tablet t. “The greatest regret of my life was not standing up and saying ‘This is wrong.’”
Ms. Mallory denied that she disparaged Ms. Wruble’s Jewish heritage in that meeting, but acknowledged telling white women there that she did not trust them.
“They are not trustworthy,” she said, adding that Ms. Wruble gossiped behind the backs of the other march leaders instead of confronting them when she had an issue. “Every single one of us has heard things that offended us. We still do the work.”
Shortly after that meeting, Ms. Mallory, Ms. Perez and Ms. Sarsour decided they did not want to work with Ms. Wruble anymore.
On her way out, Ms. Wruble texted a senior adviser to the organization with a warning: “The one thing I would suggest you discuss with them is the anti-Semitic piece of this,” she wrote. “Their rhetoric around this stuff will hurt the movement.”

***
(December 25)
Pot-Stewed Christmas?  Mass insanity of people “seeing music,” “talking to plants,” (etc., etc.) and having insatiable “munchies.”  Living in brain drool.  “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” is the devil, and his subjects, among many others, are the pot-entranced jibberers.  If mocking the potheads would wake them up to their thumbsucking (bong-sucking) juvenile foolishness, then I would gladly mock them to repentance!

http://www.fox5ny.com/news/cannabis-is-a-big-hit-for-christmas-gift-giving
Cannabis is a big hit for Christmas gift-giving
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - 73-year-old Judy gave the gift of pot to herself, unafraid to vape and smoke inside the lounge at the Magnolia dispensary in Oakland.
She said she has been smoking marijuana since the 1960s, and thought the perfect way to relax on Christmas Eve was to buy some marijuana.
“I just learned about this place a year ago,” Judy said. “I’m doing great now.”
Just like her, dozens of customers have been lining up and packing into Bay Area cannabis dispensaries to buy holiday gifts including gummies, chocolates, cartridges and flowers.
“From the moment we were open at 9 o’clock we had a line,” Magnolia assistant general manager Kysa Butler said. “We’ve been knocking the lines out quickly but they’ve been steady, too.”
Pot presents are pretty popular as many visited for the first time to get gifts. Christopher and his dog Frankie were picking up some edibles and said they make the perfect stocking stuffers.
“It’s definitely unique,” Christopher said. “It just feels like you’re having a snack and then later you want more snacks!” … …

***

The same old 666.  Eternal Life without God.  Standing on the threshold of Hell, oblivious to the danger.  Ongoing biological life without the Savior’s sin solution does not mix well, like oil and water! (Doesn’t really work.)
The devil’s offers always precede the real thing from God, and they always fall hideously short.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/749484/immortality-human-biology-science-negligible-senescence
Human Beings to ‘live forever in 30 years’ with immortality the ‘new plastic surgery’

Biological immortality — or, more accurately, never growing old — has bee studied by scientists who think it could be achieved with advanced genetic engineering.
But the technology to live forever will be incredibly expensive once it is available.
Transhumanis and futurist Dr. Ian Pearson predicted “the rich and famous” will be getting the treatment by the 2050s — similar to how the stars have access to plastic surgery today. … …
***
Beware the antichrist doctrines that Christianity can be compatible with Islam.  It is not.  Their doctrines hate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; they deny the Incarnation of God in Jesus.  Their god is not personal nor merciful and pushes only hate, domination, and death.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2846
Chrislam Invades Christmas - Mixing Muslim & Christian Stories Of Jesus’ Birth
The mantra that "we all worship the same god" has been taken a step further by First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple by hosting a new play called "Christmas Mubarak," mixing Christian and Muslim stories of Jesus' birth.
Rather than Jesus being born as the incarnate Son of God, the baby actually speaks and announces he's a prophet. Similarly, Joseph is not depicted as Mary's fiance, but rather as a cousin and the play describes prophecies about Jesus' return, though Muslims do not believe, as Christians do, that Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead.
Though the play's directors say "Christmas Mubarak" is "a wonderful way for both Muslim and Christian to refresh their understanding of the story," this is nothing short of blasphemy. It perverts the story of Jesus' birth; it doesn't refresh it. No prophet could save people from their sins. Only the incarnate Son of God could do that. That any Christian church would participate in this play is disgraceful.
However this is not the first time a church has embraced what is often referred to as "Chrislam", the term used to suggest that Christianity and Islam share similar beliefs and as such are compatible. Those Christian churches that have so blurred the differences and distinctions between Christianity and Islam are on the rise and the next generation of youth seems to be ready to endorse such beliefs despite Christianity and Islam being diametrically opposed on the most important of issues - the identity of Jesus Christ. 
True Christianity declares Jesus to be God incarnate. For Christians, the deity of Christ is a non-negotiable, for without His deity, Jesus death on the cross would not have been sufficient to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2).
Islam adamantly rejects the deity of Christ. The Quran declares the idea that Jesus is God to be blasphemy (5:17). Belief in the deity of Christ is considered shirk (filth) to Muslims. Further, Islam denies the death of Christ on the cross (4:157-158). 
The most crucial doctrine of the Christian faith is rejected in Islam. As a result, the two religions are absolutely not compatible, making Chrislam a concept both Christians and Muslims should reject. … …

		***
(December 26 —See December 23, first link above)
Follow-up:  Chicago Women’s March Cancelled Over Infighting —
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-womens-march-chicago-global-march-womens-wave-20181225-story.html
Chicago nixes next Women's March amid growing rift over anti Semitism claims against national group
As controversy swells around national Women’s March organizers, the local group has decided not to host a march in January — an event that for the past two years drew hundreds of thousands of supporters to Grant Park in concert with similar marches across the globe.
While Women’s March Chicago organizers cited high costs and limited volunteer hours as the main reasons for nixing the annual rally and march, the break comes amid splintering within the national Women’s March leadership following accusations of anti-Semitism and scrutiny of its ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. … …
		
additional excerpt: the misstep of “hating hate” (ed.)  “…The national Women’s March group said in a written statement that its organizers reject all forms of bigotry. “The organization and its leaders have dedicated themselves to liberating women from all forms of oppression, including anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, white supremacy, xenophobia and Islamophobia,” the statement said. “We look forward to marching together on January 19.”
(further ed. comment:  This is the hysterical insanity of presuming that Islam will abide peacefully with the LGBTQetc. crowd or with the Jews.  Should Islam gain the power over society, among the first things it would do would be to annihilate the LGBT spectrum and certainly the Jews.)

		***

The Chinese Church Under Persecution.  Pray for the saints.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/world/asia/china-christmas-church-crackdown.html?emc=edit_th_181226&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981226
As China Cracks Down on Churches, Christians Declare ‘We Will Not Forfeit Our Faith’
CHENGDU, China — For months, Gu Baoluo had been looking forward to a boisterous Christmas celebration at one of China’s best-known Protestant churches. He loved decorating trees, singing songs like “Silent Night” and watching the annual Christmas pageant recounting the birth of Jesus.
But in early December, the police shut down Mr. Gu’s usual place of worship, the Early Rain Covenant Church in the southwest city of Chengdu, as part of what activists say is the most severe crackdown on Christianity in more than a decade. The police confiscated Bibles, shuttered a school and seminary run by the well-known church and detained Early Rain’s outspoken pastor on charges of “inciting subversion,” punishable in serious cases by at least five years in prison.
On Christmas Eve, Mr. Gu, 31, a rice seller, went to the only safe place to worship that he knew: a friend’s home, where he recited hymns and prayed for the two dozen Early Rain members that are in detention. Fearing that he and his friends might be arrested, Mr. Gu used encrypted chat apps to share information about surveillance and harassment by the police.
“We will not forfeit our faith because of suppression by the authorities,” Mr. Gu said.
As millions around the world gathered to celebrate Christmas, China is capping a year in which the government of President Xi Jinping has led an unrelenting campaign against unofficial churches in China, which by some estimates serve as many as 30 million people.
Mr. Xi, apparently concerned that independent worship might pose a threat to the ruling Communist Party’s dominance over daily life in China, has sought to bring Christianity more firmly under the party’s control. The government this year banned online sales of the Bible, burned crosses, demolished churches and forced at least a half-dozen places of worship to close.
The campaign comes as Mr. Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, has worked to more aggressively control religion across China, including the detention of thousands of Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang. … …
		
		***
Prayer by onlooking saints (US!) does work.  Sudanis granted relief; may the Lord also grant them substantial relief from their torture injuries.  Andy Brunson, and an earlier pastor named Abedini were released from Iran by prayer.  Asia Bibi is also on our prayer watch to escape islamic lynch mobs in Pakistan.  May the Lord deliver her and her supporters as well as these Sudanese saints and the recent Chinese martyrs suffering persecution and prison.
		
bereancall.org Daily Update for December 26, 2018	

	
Today's Update: Sudan Releases 13 Christians Arrested in Darfur after Torture, Threats
After torturing them and threatening to charge them with serious crimes, authorities in Sudan have released 13 Christians arrested in the Darfur Region, sources said.
Personnel from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) released 12 of the Christians by Sunday (Oct. 21) and freed church leader Tajaldin Idriss Yousif on Monday, all without charges, but they threatened to charge the native Darfur evangelist and others with apostasy, public disturbance and crimes against the state, sources said.
“All of them were said to be tortured by NISS and are in bad shape,” a source said. “One of them is said to be in critical condition owing to torture. He is said to have been vomiting and bleeding. He was rushed to a hospital, but he was not attended to by the physicians in that hospital.”
The 13 Christians from four different house churches were worshipping together on Oct. 10 in Nyala, capital of South Darfur state in western Sudan’s Darfur Region, when NISS officers disrupted the service and arrested them, sources said.
NISS authorities did not give any reason for the arrests, but sources said they are targeting converts from Islam from Darfur and, in south-eastern Sudan, South Kordofan state. Three of the Christians were said to be from the Nuba Mountains area in the country’s southeast.
The Christians were not taken to any court of law during their nearly two weeks of jail and interrogation.
Following the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language. Church leaders said Sudanese authorities have demolished or confiscated churches and limited Christian literature on the pretext that most Christians have left the country following South Sudan’s secession.
https://morningstarnews.org/2018/10/sudan-releases-13-christians-arrested-in-darfur-after-torture-threats/	

***
On the other side of the planet from Krakatoa, Sicily’s Mt. Etna rumbles and spits.

https://apnews.com/5108b69d38e1427492ea116b72c4c95e
Quake from Mount Etna volcano jolts Sicily, sparks panic
ROME (AP) — An earthquake triggered by Mount Etna’s eruption jolted eastern Sicily before dawn Wednesday, injuring at least 10 people, damaging churches and houses on the volcano’s slopes and prompting panicked villagers to flee their homes.
Italy’s Civil Protection officials said the quake, which struck at 3:19 a.m., was part of a swarm of some 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, linked to Etna’s volcanic eruption this week.
***
(December 27)
Yes, we are allowed “the knowledge of good” as well as required to accept and deal with “the knowledge of evil.”  Cancer is a terrible thing.  I speak with experience. If we are allowed to find its cure, wonderful!  Yet, sin is not assuaged thereby, but if cancer relents, unknown other and new maladies will step forward to lay claim to our mortality.  Eternal Life and Final Health come only by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.  Nevertheless, thank God for new knowledge of the Good!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/12/26/immune-system-transplants-strangers-horizon-fight-cancer/
Cancer breakthrough: Scientists say immune system transplants mean 'future is incredibly bright'
Scientists have discovered a breakthrough treatment to fight cancer, as they claim the disease will no longer be deadly for future generations.
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London believe it is possible to strengthen the body's defences by transplanting immune cells from strangers.
Patients will begin to receive the new treatment next year, and the team now wants to establish ‘immune banks’ to store disease-fighting cells.
Immunology expert Professor Adrian Hayday, group leader of the Immunosurveillance Lab at The Crick, said scientists and doctors could become more like engineers, upgrading the body rather than bombarding it with toxic chemotherapy. … …
***
“Technocracy,” Big Brother, Robot Overlords, Universal Prison — the Beast (System), the spirit of Antichrist (the Beast himself), a spirit rising now in the East…
http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2847
China Now Tracking Children With "Smart" Tech Uniforms
If there is any country on Earth that is most emblematic of the rising governance model that is Technocracy, it is China.  The many pieces to this structure have included much of what we see emerging in the U.S. with pervasive surveillance, biometrics and a notion of protecting the public by instituting pre-crime algorithms in police departments and travel. 
So, in many ways, China is the very large canary in the coal mine for anyone who wishes to attempt to slow the rapidity of our slide down the slippery slope toward scientific totalitarianism.
As I covered previously, China put the world on notice back in April that it was declaring full ownership over the brains of its workers and military with the imposition of brain-reading sensors in their respective hats, caps and helmets in order to determine efficiency and safety patterns, as well as general mental state.
Concealed in regular safety helmets or uniform hats, these lightweight, wireless sensors constantly monitor the wearer's brainwaves and stream the data to computers that use artificial intelligence algorithms to detect emotional spikes such as depression, anxiety or rage.
The technology is in widespread use around the world but China has applied it on an unprecedented scale in factories, public transport, state-owned companies and the military to increase the competitiveness of its manufacturing industry and to maintain social stability.
The Chinese government acknowledges that workers expressed initial concern over the perception that they were having their minds read, but after some acclimation "they got used to the device. It looked and felt just like a safety helmet. They wore it all day at work." Future plans include use for flight operators in airline cockpits, but it "means the pilots may need to sacrifice some of their privacy for the sake of public safety."
In the meantime, a new initiative is paving the way for training the next generation that this type of surveillance is completely normal: school uniforms equipped with tracking chips to supposedly fight truancy. Here we can see an integration of the range of surveillance tech that is at the disposal of technocrats everywhere, including the United States. 
The uniforms use chips to monitor the location of students and can record their exit and entry into school, according to the tech firm behind the tracking devices.
"When students enter the school, the smart uniforms help take a photo or video of them," explained principal Ran Ruxiang, whose elementary school in Guizhou province started rolling out smart uniforms last November.
If students walk out of the school without permission, an automatic voice alarm will activate, the report said. … …
***
Guess we should throw out the word “human” too as it has “man” in it.  Could we all just be called “the hu”?  Oh wait, there’s a man’s given name that sounds the same, Hugh.  Guess we will have to settle for null, zip, nada, 0?! Must be the Plan?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6345409/EU-moves-outlaw-gender-biased-phrases-man-manpower.html
EU moves to outlaw phrases such as 'man-made', 'manpower' and 'mankind' in favour of 'nonsense' gender-neutral terms under new PC guidelines for translators
	•	Staff in Brussels told to reduce references to 'women or men' in a new rule book
	•	New guidelines set out in Gender Neutral Language In The European Parliament
	•	The document suggests words such as 'chairman' be replaced by 'chairperson'
	•	Also advocates the avoidance of gender-specific pronouns such as 'he' or 'she'

The European Union has moved to suppress everyday phrases such as 'manpower' and 'mankind' and replace them with gender-neutral terms.
Staff in Strasbourg have been told to reduce references to 'women or men' in a new rule book called Gender Neutral Language In The European Parliament. …

add’t’l excerpt:  'The use in many languages of the word 'man' in a wide range of idiomatic expressions which refer to both men and women, such as manpower, layman, man-made, statesmen, committee of wise men, should be discouraged. 

***
(December 28)
“Bye-bye, Miss American Pie.  I drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry…”  End of an American Era?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/27/sears-may-need-to-liquidate-if-no-bid-comes-in-by-tomorrow.html
Sears may be down to its last 24 hours. Iconic retailer likely liquidates if no bid comes in tomorrow.
	•	The company's last shot at survival is a $4.6 billion proposal, put forward by Chairman Eddie Lampert.
	•	The bid, largely composed of outside capital, has faced challenges from the start.
	•	The 125-year-old company has more than 68,000 employees.
Sears, the 125-year-old icon, has 24 hours to survive.
The employer of more than 68,000 filed for bankruptcy in October. Its last shot at survival is a $4.6 billon proposal put forward by its chairman, Eddie Lampert, to buy the company out of bankruptcy through his hedge fund, ESL Investments. ESL is the only party offering to buy Sears as a whole, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC. Without that bid or another like it, liquidators will break the company up into pieces. … …

***
(December 29)
Said Paul, “In the last days, men (and apparently women) shall be (mentally) incontinent (insane);  See 2 Timothy 3:1-7.

https://www.nbc-2.com/story/39689304/florida-woman-robs-postal-worker-with-a-plastic-gun
Florida woman robs postal worker with a plastic gun
A woman was arrested for pointing a plastic gun at people while riding a tricycle and then stealing a package from a postal truck. 

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - A woman was arrested for pointing a plastic gun at people while riding a tricycle and then stealing a package from a postal truck. 
Deputies were called to Triangle Bay Dr. and Collier Blvd. Saturday night because of a call that a woman was pointing a gun at people.
Deputies found Leida Crisostomo riding a tricycle and holding a black and silver handgun. Deputies drove beside her and told her to drop the gun. She did. Then she rolled into the grass and put her hands behind her back, deputies said. 
Once handcuffed, law enforcement said Crisostomo told them she was "God" and that voices in her head were telling her to do things.

***
Huge, new migrant caravans first assembled by “community organizers” may find public works employment and welcome in southern Mexico under new joint Mexico/US plans.

https://www.latimes.com/world/la-me-ln-new-migrant-caravan-20181227-story.html
Another, bigger migrant caravan is set to leave from Honduras next month
Another migrant caravan — this one estimated at 15,000 people — is preparing to leave Honduras on Jan. 15, according to migrant rights advocates and Spanish-language media.
“They say they are even bigger and stronger than the last caravan,” said Irma Garrido, a member of the migrant advocacy group Reactiva Tijuana Foundation.
Meanwhile, thousands of Central American migrants from a caravan that left Honduras in October remain stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border and languishing in crowded Tijuana shelters while they wait out a lengthy process to file asylum requests with the United States.
Coordinators who helped direct the migrants on the 2,000-mile trek with bullhorns, arranging for buses and giving advice along the way, have mostly vanished. Many of the migrants say they feel abandoned and unsure where to turn next. Some are ready to return home.
Garrido said this new, larger caravan will probably be joined by more people in El Salvador and in Guatemala, but she said they don’t plan on coming straight to the Tijuana-San Diego border, where resources are already stretched nearly to a breaking point.
“They will stay in the south of Mexico in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Their aim is to request work there,” she said.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged visas and work in Mexico for Central American migrants. In his inauguration speech, he pledged public works projects such as planting 2 million trees and construction of his Maya Train, which will link cities in the three Yucatan peninsula states as well as Tabasco and Chiapas.
The $8-billion project is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the southern states of Mexico. … …
***

*** *** ***
I am the LORD that healeth thee.

EXODUS 15:26g

************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

December 23

Saints, 

  “God rest ye,merry gentlemen!”  Our rest (peace, salvation) is secured by the Lamb of God!  “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is THE GIFT OF GOD, not of works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians. 2:8-9).  “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28-29). 

And so, in the midst of all the planetary, societal, human, demonic powers breaking loose, MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Or as Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra once crooned, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas!”  Even if it’s small, simple, and plain this year, remember God opened the Heavens and a multitude of angels sang at the birth of Jesus Christ Whom we celebrate (Just imagine that for a moment!).  And after the dawn of his Return, Everything is going to be just fine!!!

Press on in faith and in The Faith!  “Hark the herald angels sing!  Glory to the newborn King!  Peace on Earth and Mercy mild; GOD AND SINNERS RECONCILED!”  PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!

***
The Week —

(December 17)
Cases in Point —  the de-privatization of everything and everyone unfolding.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/15/business/location-tracking-phones.html?emc=edit_th_181217&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981217
8 Places Where Smartphones Tracked People’s Movements
A New York Times investigation showed that data from over a million devices in the New York area exposed people’s daily habits.
The business of location data has grown dramatically in recent years, a New York Times investigation found. Apps on smartphones send precise location data sometimes thousands of times a day. Companies prize the information, which can help advertisers target consumers and investments funds understand trends.
Though the raw data is anonymous, it can often be linked to people’s identities by comparing movements to publicly available information like home addresses.
***
A “Third Reich,”  Hitlerian scenarios rising in China / Mass Concentration Camps, Forced Labor / Slavery?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html?emc=edit_th_181217&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981217
China’s Detention Camps for Muslims Turn to Forced Labor
Chinese state television showed Muslims attending classes on how to be law-abiding citizens. Evidence is emerging that detainees are also being forced to take jobs in new factories.
KASHGAR, China — Muslim inmates from internment camps in far western China hunched over sewing machines, in row after row. They were among hundreds of thousands who had been detained and spent month after month renouncing their religious convictions. Now the government was showing them on television as models of repentance, earning good pay — and political salvation — as factory workers.
China’s ruling Communist Party has said in a surge of upbeat propaganda that a sprawling network of camps in the Xinjiang region is providing job training and putting detainees on production lines for their own good, offering an escape from poverty, backwardness and the temptations of radical Islam.
But mounting evidence suggests a system of forced labor is emerging from the camps, a development likely to intensify international condemnation of China’s drastic efforts to control and indoctrinate a Muslim ethnic minority population of more than 12 million in Xinjiang.
Accounts from the region, satellite images and previously unreported official documents indicate that growing numbers of detainees are being sent to new factories, built inside or near the camps, where inmates have little choice but to accept jobs and follow orders. … …

***
(December 18)
“Farout!”, a new planet in our solar system is found.  Other small ones are also being found of late.  Gravitational fluctuations suggest a large hidden planet may also be far out there, “Planet X” to astronomers or Nibiru to some occultists.  We need not worry, but we do know from Scripture that there shall be fearsome signs in the heavens as the Age concludes and there will be collisions with Earth by “stars” (asteroids, comets, even small planets?) in the judgments of the End of the Age.
Said Shakespeare in the voice of Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  The wise watch and heed.
https://www.space.com/42755-farout-farthest-solar-system-object-discovery.html
'Farout!' Newfound Object Is the Farthest Solar System Body Ever Spotted
A newly discovered object is the most-distant body ever observed in the solar system — and the first object ever found orbiting at more than 100 times the distance from Earth to the sun.

The discovery team nicknamed the object "Farout," and its provisional designation from the International Astronomical Union is 2018 VG18. Preliminary research suggests it's a round, pinkish dwarf planet. The same team spotted a faraway dwarf planet nicknamed “The Goblin” in October. … …

***
(December 19)
Across the world, the people (populism) speak against these attempts by the globalists (the spirit of antichrist) to reduce our “carbon-based lifeforms” (us and our animals) to slavery.  The protests span the political spectrum.  Carbon misuse should be redirected, says Barrasso, Chairman of the EPW, but through innovation not constriction, in this opinion piece for the NYTimes — 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/opinion/climate-carbon-tax-innovation.html?emc=edit_th_181219&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981219
Cut Carbon Through Innovation, Not Regulation
People across the world are rejecting the idea that carbon taxes are the answer to lowering emissions.
By John Barrasso
Senator Barrasso, a Republican of Wyoming, is chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Leaders from nearly 200 countries met in Katowice, Poland, last week and agreed to rules to carry out the Paris climate accord. Now that the 22,000 delegates have returned home, there are three truths they need to recognize to make actual progress in the hard work of lowering carbon dioxide emissions across the globe.
The first is, the climate is changing and we, collectively, have a responsibility to do something about it. Second, the United States and the world will continue to rely on affordable and abundant fossil fuels, including coal, to power our economies for decades to come. And third, innovation, not new taxes or punishing global agreements, is the ultimate solution.
People across the world are rejecting the idea that carbon taxes and raising the cost of energy is the answer to lowering emissions. In France, the government just suspended a planned fuel tax increase after some of its citizens took to the streets in protest. And in the United States, the results of November elections showed that these plans and other government interventions are just as unpopular.
Voters in Washington State rejected the creation of an expensive tax on carbon emissions. In Colorado, a ballot measure to severely restrict drilling was defeated. And in Arizona, voters rejected a mandate to make the state’s utilities much more dependent on renewable energy by 2030 — regardless of the cost to consumers. All three of these states elected liberal Democrats to Congress on election night. … …
***
Facebook’s Troubles Grow as people wake up to its role —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/facebook-privacy.html?emc=edit_na_20181218&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants
Internal documents show that the social
network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people’s data than it has disclosed.
For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews.
The special arrangements are detailed in hundreds of pages of Facebook documents obtained by The New York Times. The records, generated in 2017 by the company’s internal system for tracking partnerships, provide the most complete picture yet of the social network’s data-sharing practices. They also underscore how personal data has become the most prized commodity of the digital age, traded on a vast scale by some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley and beyond.
The exchange was intended to benefit everyone. Pushing for explosive growth, Facebook got more users, lifting its advertising revenue. Partner companies acquired features to make their products more attractive. Facebook users connected with friends across different devices and websites. But Facebook also assumed extraordinary power over the personal information of its 2.2 billion users — control it has wielded with little transparency or outside oversight.
Facebook allowed Microsoft’s Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users’ friends without consent, the records show, and gave Netflix and Spotify the ability to read Facebook users’ private messages. … …

***
(December 20)

Our Faith Could Save Them Their Millions!  All one has to do to Observe the Nature of the Soul is to Observe a Body from which the Soul has departed.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8017068/chinese-scientists-to-try-to-find-the-human-soul-with-100m-state-of-the-art-brain-scanner/
SOUL SEARCHING Chinese scientists to try to find the HUMAN SOUL with £100m state-of-the-art brain scanner
They will use powerful magnetic forces to observe the structure and activities of every neuron in a living brain
CHINESE scientists are developing a £100m state-of-the-art brain scanner to try and find the human soul.
***

Is a Brazilian “healer” (a man whose “personal charisma” may be the attendance of “familiar spirits” and other unclean spirits) now assisted by evil supernatural antics after police arrest him on many and multiple sex abuse charges against hundreds of his women followers?  Though not as well known in the USA, this man has been interviewed by Oprah and has treated Bill Clinton, this report states. (“The spirit of antichrist is already in the world,” said John, see 1 John 4:1-3.)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6511201/Supernatural-events-terrify-police-interrogating-celebrity-medium-sexual-abuse-claims.html
'Supernatural' events terrify police while interrogating celebrity medium John of God over sexual abuse claims as computer 'takes on life of its own' and electrical appliances short circuit
	•	Spiritual healer Joao Teixeira de Faria, 76, has been accused of sexual abuse 
	•	Around 300 other women have claimed Faria has sexually assaulted them 
	•	Police questioning Faria said electrical items began to malfunction in the room 

 ***
“Pleased to meet you; hope you guessed my name,” —the Devil, in an old Rolling Stones’s song through the mouth of Mick Jagger.  And who’s the pope and head honcho of this so-called “progressive christianity,” no less than Beelzebub? (Is not “the road to hell paved with good intentions”?)

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2838
Progressive Christianity Welcomes The Atheist Pastor
excerpt: …A liberal denomination in the true north is giving that last bizarre scenario a go. The leadership of the United Church of Canada has settled a years-long controversy by voting to allow Reverend Gretta Vosper, a self-proclaimed atheist, to keep her post as lead minister at West Hill United Church in Toronto.In her sermons and in her book "With or Without God," Vosper has made it clear she doesn't see the Bible as the authoritative word of God. She views "God" as not a personal Being, but as a metaphor of love, compassion, and beauty. Each Sunday, members of West Hill United Church replace prayer with "community sharing time," and then sing hymns that have been rewritten to accommodate secular sensibilities.
The head of Reverend Vesper's denomination says he's happy with the decision to keep her, preferring to emphasize "inclusiveness" over the most basic belief of the Christian faith--namely that God exists. …
		 ***
Just days ago, media reported that the US had decided to leave 2000 or so troops in Syria indefinitely to keep ISIS under, but now Trump declares victory and plans to pull all troops immediately.  Putin applauds the decision.  “Perplexity of nations”? (see Luke 21:25).  Is the scenario being set for Ezekiel’s Battle of Chapters 38 and 39?
		
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/trump-syria-turkey-troop-withdrawal.html?emc=edit_th_181220&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981220
Trump Withdraws U.S. Forces From Syria, Declaring ‘We Have Won Against ISIS’
The president overruled his military and diplomatic advisers, who warned against abandoning Kurdish allies and ceding influence in Syria to Russia and Iran.
		
		 ***
Do intense artists like Nicole Kidman and Beyonce sometimes lend themselves to “familiar spirits” to achieve almost superhuman acts?  Beyonce has formerly claimed to go under “L’oa” voodoo spirits to perform.  Witness Nicole’s similar descriptions.  God save.
		
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/movies/nicole-kidman-destroyer.html?emc=edit_th_181220&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981220
		
Nicole Kidman Still Can’t Believe What ‘Destroyer’ Did to Her
Her detective character is so dangerous “a lot of times I would let out a huge yell or a growl before I would start, which I know sounds insane.”
Nicole Kidman has never played such an aggressive character before. “I could tell by the way people reacted on the set. Everyone steered clear of me.”
		
Nicole Kidman has entered a phase of her career so prolific that you could watch her in three different movies this fall alone. Still, you’ve never seen her do anything quite like “Destroyer.”
In this gritty Los Angeles film noir from the director Karyn Kusama, Kidman plays Erin Bell, a detective so worn down by a lifetime of tragedy that she seems barely alive. Her eyes red-rimmed as she lurches down the street, Erin is propelled by pure rage, and Kidman burrows so deeply into that anger that she becomes unrecognizable.
When we met up at a West Hollywood hotel last month to discuss the film, for which she’s received a Golden Globe nomination, Kidman spoke as though she were just awakening from the spell “Destroyer” had cast on her.
Kusama is a “muscular filmmaker, and she really pushed me into places I haven’t been before,” said Kidman. “Karyn’s not verbose, she’s tough: She’ll just be like, ‘O.K., good.’ But I’m Australian, so I don’t need all that. We could communicate almost telepathically, and she protected my space.” … …
***
Solving pollution problems by mixing plant and animal genes — What could possibly go wrong?  Are we treading down the path of the Nephilim experiments by the fallen angels and their hybrid humans before the Flood?  In lighter moments, I wonder who among trademark artists came up with “the Jolly Green Giant,” an apparent mixture of human, giant, and chlorophyll DNA.  What mythology had they been booting up?  And what gave them such an advertising idea? (See “Green Giant” at wikipedia where creators are named and this is noted:  “…this original concept actually owed much to a dark Brothers Grimm fairy tale…”

https://newatlas.com/genetically-modified-ivy-cleans-air/57741/
Modified ivy uses synthetic rabbit gene to clean the air
***
How Utterly Appropriate: The Life Haters, The Death Dealers — despise their own pregnant workers?  — while the NYTimes tries to cast it as just a widespread “American workplaces” problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/business/planned-parenthood-pregnant-employee-discrimination-women.html?emc=edit_na_20181220&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta

Planned Parenthood Is Accused of Mistreating Pregnant Employees
Employers that champion women face accusations of discriminating against their pregnant workers, showing how widespread the problem is in American workplaces.
As a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood, Ta’Lisa Hairston urged pregnant women to take rest breaks at work, stay hydrated and, please, eat regular meals.
Then she got pregnant and couldn’t follow her own advice.
Last winter, Ms. Hairston told the human-resources department for Planned Parenthood’s clinic in White Plains, N.Y., that her high blood pressure was threatening her pregnancy. She sent the department multiple notes from her nurse recommending that she take frequent breaks.
Managers ignored the notes. They rarely gave her time to rest or to take a lunch break, Ms. Hairston said.
“I had to hold back tears talking to pregnant women, telling them to take care of their pregnancies when I couldn’t take care of mine,” she said. “It made me jealous.”
Discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers remains widespread in the American workplace.  It is so pervasive that even organizations that define themselves as champions of women are struggling with the problem.
That includes Planned Parenthood, which has been accused of sidelining, ousting or otherwise handicapping pregnant employees, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees.
In interviews and legal documents, women at Planned Parenthood and other organizations with a feminist bent described discrimination that violated federal or state laws — managers considering pregnancy in hiring decisions, for example, or denying rest breaks recommended by a doctor.
In other cases, the bias was more subtle. Many women said they were afraid to announce a pregnancy at work, sensing they would be seen as abandoning their colleagues.
Some of those employers saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient. Others were unsympathetic to workers seeking special treatment. … …

***
(December 21)
First Deluge of the Drones —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/world/europe/gatwick-airport-drones.html?emc=edit_th_181221&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981221 
Gatwick Airport Shut Down by ‘Deliberate’ Drone Incursions
LONDON — It is one of the busiest airports in Europe. It survived World War II, when it served as a base for R.A.F. night fighters flying missions against Nazi Germany. It has just been brought to a standstill by the humble drone.
“This hasn’t happened anywhere in the world before,” said Richard Gill, the founder and chief executive of Drone Defence, which helps institutions guard their perimeters against drones.
The Gatwick shutdown scrambled hundreds of flights, stranded tens of thousands of passengers and reduced the British government to playing cat-and-mouse with the drones. Controlled, perhaps, by little more than an iPad, they were repeatedly sent over the runway of the country’s second-largest airport in what officials called a “deliberate act.”
On Thursday, about 20 police units searched the perimeter of the airfield for the drones’ operators. By nightfall, the government said it would deploy the military in a bid to reopen the airport, though it was not clear what its role would be. … …

***
Recent Upsurge in Economic News has us nearing a Depression, comparing statistics with 1929, whether or not accurately.  “Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.”  Online theorists and prognosticators, selling their books and videos, constantly predict imminent financial collapse. Certainly, economies come and go, but I recall hearing about a recession in the ’80’s after it happened of which we did not even realize we were in as a young family of disciple-ministers.  Maybe we were too poor to notice, but we had food, shelter, and were paying our bills for necessities, and we thought we were fine!  Said David,  “ I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Ps. 37:25).  Trust God. Watch and pray as He has taught us.

https://apnews.com/97c220014e0f4aaf82b4695f7d1ecccc
Stock market woes raise a nagging fear: Is a recession near?
BALTIMORE (AP) — Fears of a recession have been mounting with the U.S. stock market appearing to be headed for its worst December since 1931 — during the Great Depression.
Wall Street’s sustained slump has been fueled by investor concerns about lower corporate profits, higher corporate debt, a festering trade war between the United States and China and a broader global slowdown.
And the worries are mounting. On Wednesday, stocks tumbled over concerns that the Federal Reserve will continue raising rates. And they plunged again Thursday as President Donald Trump appeared open to a partial government shutdown unless he receives funding for a wall along the border with Mexico. … …
***
(December 22)
“Reincarnation” is nothing more that passing a demon from one generation to the next.  Doubtless, it is a higher-level infernal principality that has filled the 14 Dalai Lamas of history.  Thank God, we are delivered from such lying darkness!
forwarded with commentary from bereancall.org “Daily Update” for December 19
Today's Update: Buddhist Monks to Consider Whether Dalai Lama Should Reincarnate

Tibetan Buddhist monks from around the world are gearing up to discuss whether the aging Dalai Lama should reincarnate — and, if he does, then how to prevent Beijing from claiming that Tibet’s next spiritual leader will reincarnate in China.The monks had been scheduled to congregate in the Himalayas of northern…to deliberate on the issue at the 13th Religious Conference on Tibetan Buddhism beginning Thursday (Nov. 29), but the three-day meeting was called off after a high-ranking Tibetan monk, Kathok Getse Rinpoche, died on Nov. 19.New dates are yet to be announced for the conference in Dharamshala, where the 83-year-old Dalai Lama and his followers have lived in exile since 1959, but the monks are prepared to deliberate on the steps, interpreted from ancient Buddhist texts, to recognize the reincarnated body if their spiritual leader decides to continue the office after his death. Tibetan Buddhists believe that karma directs a person’s reincarnation, but those who have achieved enlightenment can direct their own path, choosing the body of their rebirth.

In a major departure from 369 years of tradition, the 14th Dalai Lama relinquished all political power in 2011 to the Central Tibetan Administration... The move came four years after China’s atheist government decreed that all reincarnations of living Buddhas have to be approved by Beijing given that Tibet is officially part of China.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama also said preparations to determine how his successor would be found wouldn’t happen until he reached 90, in 2025, when he would first consult with Tibetan Buddhist authorities about whether to even continue the Dalai Lama institution. But then last year, the Dalai Lama said the process would begin as soon as 2018. He has in recent years mentioned that perhaps he would not reincarnate.

“There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won’t come next, who will disgrace himself or herself,” the Dalai Lama told BBC in 2014. “That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama.”

https://religionnews.com/2018/11/28/buddhist-monks-to-consider-whether-dalai-lama-should-reincarnate/
﻿
[TBC: In the August 2008 newsletter we wrote: We're told that Tibetan Buddhism may be beyond the ability of the Western mind to understand. That's an understatement: its utter complexity, contradictions, and confusion have no geographical boundaries….This man with the winning smile is a shaman. He refers to himself as a simple monk, although we're told he is a god-king, and he, like the pope, is to be addressed as "His Holiness." He mediates between humans and spirit beings, of which there are a multitude of varieties, from those who are considered helpful, to those who are unspeakably evil and malicious. The life of the average Tibetan is one of continually seeking rituals of appeasement directed at these nonphysical beings who play havoc with them by bringing about sickness, poverty, crop failure, livestock deaths, ignorance, possession, insanity, and so forth. No matter what philosophical or psychological spin the Dalai Lama puts on his theology and practices for his American audiences, the Bible clearly teaches that he is trafficking with demons and "the god of this world," Satan himself (2 Corinthians:4:4).]
***
Gatwick Airport’s (UK) Clog of the Drones: Suspects apprehended: Got ‘em? (after 1000+ flights cancelled); Eco-Terrorists?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8042572/gatwick-airport-arrests-latest-cyclist-spotted/
GATWICK GRINCH BUSTS Gatwick live updates: Cops arrest man and woman over drone chaos after cyclist was spotted ‘frantically’ packing drones as flights resume
Sussex cops detained two of the so called 'Gatwick grinches' in raids at around 10pm last night
POLICE have arrested two Gatwick drone gang suspects - after a cyclist was spotted "frantically" packing two drones into a bag near the airport.
The man and woman, from the "Gatwick area", were held by cops on Friday night after another day of travel chaos by suspected eco-warriors. 
The Christmas getaway hell saw 1,000 flights cancelled or diverted - affecting 140,000 passengers - since Wednesday night.
And travellers are now being warned to expect a fourth day of chaos as Britain's second biggest airport re-opens today. … …
***
(December 23)
A Confluence of Planetary and Cosmic Events Triggers Killer Tsunami in Indonesia on the Same Range that gave us the Krakatoa Event of 1883, the Largest Known Volcano in History.  A Similar Event Could Bring on a New Ice Age or Global Winter.

https://apnews.com/e91d55a6b39542c0896c5f31a0098870
Tsunami set off by volcanic eruption kills 222 in Indonesia
CARITA BEACH, Indonesia (AP) — A tsunami believed to be triggered by a volcanic eruption killed at least 222 people in Indonesia during a busy holiday weekend, sweeping away hotels, hundreds of houses and a group of people attending a beach concert.
More than 800 people were reported injured after the tsunami hit around the Sunda Strait at 9:27 p.m. Saturday, the Disaster Management Agency. At least 28 others were missing, but the toll could continue to rise because some areas had not yet been reached.

Scientists, including those from Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics agency, said Sunday that the tsunami could have been caused by undersea landslides or those occurring above sea level on the Anak Krakatau volcano’s steep outside slope following the eruption. The volcano’s name translates to “Child of Krakatoa,” a volcanic island formed over years after one of the largest eruptions in recorded history occurred at the Krakatoa volcano more than a century ago. The scientists also cited tidal waves caused by the full moon. … …
***
Highest Level “Princess” arrested by USA for spying, money-laundering, etc. is of a family of chief players in the Regime.  Her family were friends of Mao himself.  Will this bring US/China relations to a boiling point?
 https://nypost.com/2018/12/22/how-arrest-of-chinese-princess-exposes-regimes-world-domination-plot/
How arrest of Chinese ‘princess” exposes regime’s world domination plot
Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s arrest in Vancouver on Dec. 6 led to immediate blowback.
Furious Chinese Communists have begun arresting innocent Canadians in retaliation. So far, three of these “revenge hostages” have been taken and are being held in secret jails on vague charges. Beijing hints that the hostage count may grow if Meng is not freed and fast.
Even for a thuggish regime like China’s, this kind of action is almost unprecedented.
So who is Meng Wanzhou?
Currently under house arrest and awaiting extradition to the US, she will face charges that her company violated US sanctions by doing business with Iran and committed bank fraud by disguising the payments it received in return.
But to say that she is the CFO of Huawei doesn’t begin to explain her importance — or China’s reaction.
It turns out that “Princess” Meng, as she is called, is Communist royalty. Her grandfather was a close comrade of Chairman Mao during the Chinese Civil War, who went on to become vice governor of China’s largest province.
She is also the daughter of Huawei’s Founder and Chairman, Ren Zhengfei. Daddy is grooming her to succeed him when he retires.
In other words, Meng is the heiress apparent of China’s largest and most advanced hi-tech company, and one which plays a key role in China’s grand strategy of global domination.
Huawei is a leader in 5G technology and, earlier this year, surpassed Apple to become the second largest smartphone maker in the world behind Samsung.
But Huawei is much more than an innocent manufacturer of smartphones.
It is a spy agency of the Chinese Communist Party.
How do we know?
Because the party has repeatedly said so.
First in 2015 and then again in June 2017, the party declared that all Chinese companies must collaborate in gathering intelligence.
“All organizations and citizens,” reads Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law, “must support, assist with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the national intelligence work secrets they are privy to.”
All Chinese companies, whether they are private or owned by the state, are now part and parcel of the party’s massive overseas espionage campaign. … …

*** *** ***

“Pleased as Man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel! 
Hark the herald angels sing!
Glory to the newborn King!”

************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

December 16

Saints, 

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).  “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20-21). An English word, also from the original Greek, for “interpretation” is “dogma.”  “Doctrine” and “Dogma” tend to become “good cop” and “bad cop” to those laboring in the Word.  For Doctrine tends to be assigned to the direct teachings and statements of Scripture and Dogma assigned to the religious opinions of denominations and parties within Christendom.  But this too is not always so as there are bad doctrines and false doctrines which can be as evil as agenda-driven dogmas, and lead just as surely away from the Lord.  And, surprisingly, we are to carefully develop and use dogma to interpret the Word in our lives and to daily situations.  The Lord did not tell all his parables and reveal such accounts as the Story of the Prodigal Son and the Story of the Rich Man in Hell, just to tell stories, make riddles or pose enigmas.  He did so to teach us to bring spiritual truths into use in daily life.  We are to interpret his words to present actions, to make and use serviceable dogmas.

But either agenda-driven religious dogmas or outright false doctrines can and do lead multitudes to hell.  Jesus went right after the religionists of his day for just such things, telling them,”Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).  What are we to do to guard ourselves in these evil days, days when heresy and error are pouring down like hurricane rain?  Worst, at best, we know very little, nor do any of our teachers, of what there is to know, and we face adversaries who have centuries of experience, are expert at manipulating human tendencies, and know how to fool us with the same techniques and suppositions presented to us over and over, generation to generation.

If God were not for us, we could not stand even the first assault, let alone the many that wash over us from day to day.  BUT HE IS FOR US!  Our duty is to ever call on Him, to seek Him daily, hourly, presently, momentarily.  Our duty is to know and to study his Word as our situations unfold, to abide in the simplicity of the Gospel (the essentials, the fundamentals) at all times, and then to search out knowledge and wisdom for situations that arise, remaining ever in prayers, seeking out balances by seeking out “the whole counsel of God,” see Acts 20:27, and ever pursuing God’s Wisdom and directions: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).  And in doing so, and yet beyond every effort, GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE YOU STAND! — “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 CorinthianS 9:8).  PRAISE HIS NAME!  Above all, press on!

***

This Week —  “In the situation room” —  “What I say unto you I say unto all (that’s us!), watch!” (Mark 13:37).  In part, by the prayers of the saints, God preserves the world and does what He will.  Pray on these things.

(December 10)
Begins The Final Invasion of AI into the human brain and consciousness — ultimate, absolute control?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1056533/ai-warning-brain-transparency-lose-jobs-thoughts-nita-farahany-tedtalks-spt
‘Brain TRANSPARENCY’ AI expert warns against LOSING JOBS over THOUGHTS
A LEADING expert on the ethical, legal and social implications of bioscience has revealed her concerns over handing over the control of our minds.

 Nita Farahany has detailed her fears artificial intelligence in the workplace could lead to the loss of jobs over employees thoughts. She revealed how more and more companies are looking into the idea of making electroencephalography (EEG) devices a compulsory part of their uniform. The wearable headset, which can be used to monitor alertness, productivity and mental state, is already being used in China. 
Train drivers on the Beijing – Shanghai high-speed rail are required to wear the technology, and, according to some reports, in government-run factories in China, the employees are required to wear EEG sensors to monitor their productivity too. Workers are even sent home if their brains show less-than-stellar concentration on their jobs or emotional agitation.
Ms Farahany fears the increasing number of worldwide interest in the technology could lead to people being fired just for their thoughts.
She asked at a recent TedTalks event: “In a world of total brain transparency, who would dare have a political dissident or creative thought?
Soon workers could have their concentration levels monitored.
“I worry that people will self-censor in fear of being ostracised by society, or that people will lose their jobs because of their waning attention or emotional instability, or because they're contemplating collective action against their employers. 
“That coming out will no longer be an option, because people's brains will long ago have revealed their sexual orientation, their political ideology or their religious preferences, well before they were ready to consciously share that information with other people.
“I worry about the ability of our laws to keep up with technological change. Take the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech. Does it also protect freedom of thought?” … …

***

Pray for these saints!  O, Lord, our God, cloud the minds of those officials who want to harm these Christians and change their thoughts away from evildoing.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2177263/100-snatched-china-church-raids-overnight
100 Christians snatched in overnight raids on underground Chinese church

	•	Worshippers taken from their homes and off the streets in coordinated crackdown across Chengdu in Sichuan province
	•	Pastor among those arrested
***
Cooked Kids?
https://www.bloombergquint.com/technology/screen-time-changes-structure-of-kids-brains-60-minutes-says#gs.1dUhVfc
Screen Time Changes Structure of Kids’ Brains, ‘60 Minutes’ Says
(Bloomberg) -- Smartphones, tablets and video games are physically changing the brains of adolescents, early results from an ongoing $300 million study funded by the National Institute of Health have shown, according to a report by “60 Minutes.”
Scientists will follow more than 11,000 nine- to 10-year-olds for a decade to see how childhood experiences impact the brain and affect emotional development and mental health. The first bits of data suggest that the onslaught of tech screens has been transformative for young people -- and maybe not for the better.
In brain scans of 4,500 children, daily screen usage of more than seven hours showed premature thinning of the brain cortex, the outermost layer that processes information from the physical world. Though the difference was significant from participants who spent less screen time, NIH study director Gaya Dowling cautioned against drawing a conclusion.
“We don’t know if it’s being caused by the screen time. We don’t know if it’s a bad thing,” Dowling said, according to an advance transcript provided by CBS network. “It won’t be until we follow them over time that we will see if there are outcomes that are associated with the differences that we’re seeing in this single snapshot.” 
Early results from the study, called Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD), have determined that children who spend more than two hours of daily screen time score lower on thinking and language tests. A major data release is scheduled for early 2019.

***
Commercialized Apps Learning to Track Every Step, even inside the home?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html?emc=edit_na_20181210&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret
Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.
	
The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user.One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour. Another represents a person who travels with the mayor of New York during the day and returns to Long Island at night. Yet another leaves a house in upstate New York at 7 a.m. and travels to a middle school 14 miles away, staying until late afternoon each school day. Only one person makes that trip: Lisa Magrin, a 46-year-old math teacher. Her smartphone goes with her.An app on the device gathered her location information, which was then sold without her knowledge. It recorded her whereabouts as often as every two seconds, according to a database of more than a million phones in the New York area that was reviewed by The New York Times. While Ms. Magrin’s identity was not disclosed in those records, The Times was able to easily connect her to that dot. The app tracked her as she went to a Weight Watchers meeting and to her dermatologist’s office for a minor procedure. It followed her hiking with her dog and staying at her ex-boyfriend’s home, information she found disturbing.“It’s the thought of people finding out those intimate details that you don’t want people to know,” said Ms. Magrin, who allowed The Times to review her location data. Like many consumers, Ms. Magrin knew that apps could track people’s movements. But as smartphones have become ubiquitous and technology more accurate, an industry of snooping on people’s daily habits has spread and grown more intrusive. … …
***
(December 11)
 “…a year’s worth of snow in a day”!
http://www.kqradio.com/2018/12/10/massive-snowstorm-leaves-at-least-2-dead-in-nc-as-southeast-digs-out/
Massive snowstorm leaves at least 2 dead in NC as Southeast digs out
ABC News(NEW YORK) — A major winter storm that pummeled the Southeast has become a “nightmare and a tragedy” in North Carolina, claiming at least two lives, the governor said, as he warned drivers to be cautious of snowy roads and dangerous ice.
The storm has dropped staggering amounts of snow, ice and rain across North Carolina, with a year’s worth of snow falling in some places in just one day, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. … …

***
The effects of “the spirit of the age” (“the zeitgeist”) on the threatening global population shifts —

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/158-million-migrants-want-to-move-to-the-us-worlds-top-pick
158 million migrants want to move to the US, world’s top pick

The United States is the top pick — by far — for migrants seeking a new home, despite reports that President Trump’s policies are scaring people away and making countries such as Canada and some in Europe the preferred choice, according to a new report.
Some 158 million, or a population far larger than all of Russia, want to move to the U.S., about 21 percent of all those in the world seeking a new home. … …
	…And as the border war has seen, the United States is a huge draw from those in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Honduras. Half of the citizens in those countries want out. 
***

(December 12)
Dan Balz Assesses to Sum Up The Situation — (Machiavelli:  “Upset the old order to bring in the new order.”)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Instability-and-populist-unrest-is-the-new-world-13458426.php
Instability and populist unrest is the new world order
Dan Balz, The Washington Post Published 1:51 pm PST, Tuesday, December 11, 2018
The particulars might be different, but the upheavals playing out in Britain and France this week have familiar and common undercurrents, born of the same forces - rebellion against globalization, fear of immigrants and distrust of traditional leaders - that have stoked discontent in Germany and other European countries and that are roiling politics in the United States.
Instability appears to be the order of the day, whether in the United States or in Europe. Traditional politics, of the kind practiced in Western democracies for decades after World War II, is on shaky ground nearly everywhere, struggling to find the point of equilibrium that can satisfy populations fractured by economic, cultural and social changes.
In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May clings to power as she struggles to win support among skeptical members of her Conservative Party - and others - for a Brexit deal with the European Union. In France, President Emmanuel Macron, flying high a year ago after his election, is in retreat, chastened by a series of violent demonstrations against his reform agenda. In Germany, Angela 
Merkel will step down as leader of the Christian Democrats this month, though remain as chancellor, in an acknowledgment of the decline in support for her party and frustrations with her leadership.
In the United States, meanwhile, an already divided country faces the prospect of more unrest as special counsel Robert Mueller moves toward the conclusion of his investigation, with the prospect of hearings - and even the possibility of the start of impeachment proceedings - in the new Democratic-controlled House that could further destabilize the Trump presidency ahead of the 2020 elections.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, summed up the state of affairs this week in a Tuesday morning tweet. "A bad day as far as politics for what we used to call the West: political chaos over Brexit in the UK, political capitulation in France that will not satisfy anyone or settle anything and a political crisis in the United States that continues to grow in breadth and depth alike."
The dividing lines in this new world of unrest are no longer simply those along a left-right continuum, with conservatives pitted against liberals. Those battles still exist, here and elsewhere, but increasingly the forces of destabilization are coming from other angles and other directions. They are driven by what Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and U.S. ambassador to NATO under former president Barack Obama, described as "a population that is increasingly upset with how 20, 30, 40 years of globalization have changed the internal dynamics of society."
This has taken forms that are changing politics, political alliances and policies here and abroad: a growing divide between cosmopolitan and non-cosmopolitan populations; deepening cultural differences between urban and rural parts of society; widening differences among those favoring a society more open and welcoming to immigrants and those favoring closed borders and turning inward and taking care of the home front.
In this country, the urban-rural split has become one of the largest and one of the fastest-growing divisions among the electorate. In Britain, the narrow victory for those citizens who called for Britain to break away from the European Union in the Brexit referendum was fueled by those parts of the country outside major urban centers. In France, Macron has been under assault by demonstrators from rural areas and small towns protesting his fuel tax, among other measures, that would disproportionately affect them and their lifestyles. … …
***

Douthat seems to opine for a resurgent Paganism while hedging his bets in a transcendent God in his final statements.  The Scriptures speak of a great apostasy, a turning away from the True God and back to the fallen angels’ pantheons of  the “gods” of the Pagans.  This is preparation for the time of the Antichrist,  and “we are watching attempts to revive a religion of this-world, a new-model paganism, to ‘reclaim the city that Christianity wrested away from it centuries ago.’”  Yes, establishment Christianity is in a steep apostasy, and, yes, real Paganism stands ready to push in and crowd it aside.  Real Christians must walk in the authority of the Scriptures alone and the Real Holy Spirit that produced them and directs us in them.  We surely can be “spiritual and not religious” in departing from an apostate Mainstream, but we must be careful to follow our Creator God who stands apart from and beyond his Created worlds, and in his only Son, also uncreated, who ever proceeds from the bosom of the Father, and is our One and Only Savior and Mighty God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/opinion/christianity-paganism-america.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20181212&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=0&nlid=69381998emc%3Dedit_ty_20181212&ref=headline&te=1
By Ross Douthat 
Opinion Columnist / NYTimes
The Return of Paganism
Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America.
Here are some generally agreed-upon facts about religious trends in the United States. Institutional Christianity has weakened drastically since the 1960s. Lots of people who once would have been lukewarm Christmas-and-Easter churchgoers now identify as having “no religion” or being “spiritual but not religious.” The mainline-Protestant establishment is an establishment no more. Religious belief and practice now polarizes our politics in a way they didn’t a few generations back.
What kind of general religious reality should be discerned from all these facts, though, is much more uncertain, and there are various plausible stories about what early-21st century Americans increasingly believe. The simplest of these is the secularization story — in which modern societies inevitably put away religious ideas as they advance in wealth and science and reason, and the decline of institutional religion is just a predictable feature of a general late-modern turn away from supernatural belief.
But the secularization narrative is insufficient, because even with America’s churches in decline, the religious impulse has hardly disappeared. In the early 2000s, over 40 percent of Americans answered with an emphatic “yes” when Gallup asked them if “a profound religious experience or awakening” had redirected their lives; that number had doubled since the 1960s, when institutional religion was more vigorous. A recent Pew survey on secularization likewise found increases in the share of Americans who have regular feelings of “spiritual peace and well-being.” And the resilience of religious impulses and rhetoric in contemporary political movements, even (or especially) on the officially secular left, is an obvious feature of our politics.
So perhaps instead of secularization it makes sense to talk about the fragmentation and personalization of Christianity — to describe America as a nation of Christian heretics, if you will, in which traditional churches have been supplanted by self-help gurus and spiritual-political entrepreneurs. These figures cobble together pieces of the old orthodoxies, take out the inconvenient bits and pitch them to mass audiences that want part of the old-time religion but nothing too unsettling or challenging or ascetic. The result is a nation where Protestant awakenings have given way to post-Protestant wokeness, where Reinhold Niebuhr and Fulton Sheen have ceded pulpits to Joel Osteen and Oprah Winfrey, where the prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism rule the right and a social gospel denuded of theological content rules the left.

I wrote a whole book on this theme, but in the years since it came out I’ve wondered if it, too, was incomplete. There has to come a point at which a heresy becomes simply post-Christian, a moment when you should just believe people who claim they have left the biblical world-picture behind, a context where the new spiritualities add up to a new religion.

Which is why lately I’ve become interested in books and arguments that suggest that there actually is, or might be, a genuinely post-Christian future for America — and that the term “paganism” might be reasonably revived to describe the new American religion, currently struggling to be born.
A fascinating version of this argument is put forward by Steven D. Smith, a law professor at the University of San Diego, in his new book, “Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars From the Tiber to the Potomac.” Smith argues that much of what we understand as the march of secularism is something of an illusion, and that behind the scenes what’s actually happening in the modern culture war is the return of a pagan religious conception, which was half-buried (though never fully so) by the rise of Christianity.
What is that conception? Simply this: that divinity is fundamentally inside the world rather than outside it, that God or the gods or Being are ultimately part of nature rather than an external creator, and that meaning and morality and metaphysical experience are to be sought in a fuller communion with the immanent world rather than a leap toward the transcendent.
This paganism is not materialist or atheistic; it allows for belief in spiritual and supernatural realities. It even accepts the possibility of an afterlife. But it is deliberately agnostic about final things, what awaits beyond the shores of this world, and it is skeptical of the idea that there exists some ascetic, world-denying moral standard to which we should aspire. Instead, it sees the purpose of religion and spirituality as more therapeutic, a means of seeking harmony with nature and happiness in the everyday — while unlike atheism, it insists that this everyday is divinely endowed and shaped, meaningful and not random, a place where we can truly hope to be at home.

In popular religious practice there isn’t always a clean line between this “immanent” religion and the transcendent alternative offered by Christianity and Judaism. But clearly religious cultures can tend toward one option or the other, and you can build a plausible case for a “pagan” (by Smith’s definition) tradition in Western and American religion, which in his account takes two major forms.
First, there is a tradition of intellectual and aesthetic pantheism that includes figures like Spinoza, Nietzsche, Emerson and Whitman, and that’s manifest in certain highbrow spiritual-but-not-religious writers today. Smith recruits Sam Harris, Barbara Ehrenreich and even Ronald Dworkin to this club; he notes that we even have an explicit framing of this tradition as paganism, in the former Yale Law School dean Anthony Kronman’s rich 2016 work, “Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan.”

Second, there is a civic religion that like the civic paganism of old makes religious and political duties identical, and treats the city of man as the city of God (or the gods), the place where we make heaven ourselves instead of waiting for the next life or the apocalypse. This immanent civic religion, Smith argues, is gradually replacing the more biblical form of civil religion that stamped American history down to the Protestant-Catholic-Jew 1950s. Whether in the social-justice theology of contemporary progressive politics or the transhumanist projects of Silicon Valley, we are watching attempts to revive a religion of this-world, a new-model paganism, to “reclaim the city that Christianity wrested away from it centuries ago.”
These descriptions are debatable, but suppose Smith is right. Is the combination of intellectual pantheism and a this-world-focused civil religion enough to declare the rebirth of paganism as a faith unto itself, rather than just a cultural tendency within a still-Christian order?
It seems to me that the answer is not quite, because this new religion would lack a clear cultic aspect, a set of popular devotions, a practice of ritual and prayer of the kind that the paganism of antiquity offered in abundance. And that absence points to the essential weakness of a purely intellectualized pantheism: It invites its adherents to commune with a universe that offers suffering and misery in abundance, which means that it has a strong appeal to the privileged but a much weaker appeal to people who need not only sense of wonder from their spiritual lives but also, well, help.
However, there are forms of modern paganism that do promise this help, that do offer ritual and observance, augury and prayer, that do promise that in some form gods or spirits really might exist and might offer succor or help if appropriately invoked. I have in mind the countless New Age practices that promise health and well-being and good fortune, the psychics and mediums who promise communication with the spirit world, and also the world of explicit neo-paganism, Wiccan and otherwise. Its adherents may not all be equally convinced of the realities that they’re trying to appeal to and manipulate (I don’t know how many of the witches who publicly hexed Brett Kavanaugh really expected it to work), but their numbers are growing rapidly; there may soon be more witches in the United States than members of the United Church of Christ.
What ancient paganism did successfully was to unite this kind of popular supernaturalism with its own forms of highbrow pantheism and civil-religiosity. Thus the elites of ancient Rome might reject the myths about their pantheon of deities as just crude stories, but they would join enthusiastically in public rituals that assumed that gods or spirits could be appealed to, propitiated, honored, worshiped.

To get a fully revived paganism in contemporary America, that’s what would have to happen again — the philosophers of pantheism and civil religion would need to build a religious bridge to the New Agers and neo-pagans, and together they would need to create a more fully realized cult of the immanent divine, an actual way to worship, not just to appreciate, the pantheistic order they discern.
It seems like we’re some distance from that happening — from the intellectuals whom Smith describes as pagan actually donning druidic robes, or from Jeff Bezos playing pontifex maximus for a post-Christian civic cult. The 1970s, when a D.C. establishment figure like Sally Quinn was hexing her enemies, were a high-water mark for those kinds of experiments among elites. Now, occasional experiments in woke witchcraft and astrology notwithstanding, there’s a more elite embarrassment about the popular side of post-Christian spirituality.
That embarrassment may not last forever; perhaps a prophet of a new harmonized paganism is waiting in the wings. Until then, those of us who still believe in a divine that made the universe rather than just pervading it — and who have a certain fear of what more immanent spirits have to offer us — should be able to recognize the outlines of a possible successor to our world-picture, while taking comfort that it is not yet fully formed.

***
jihadist-of-the-day shoots up Paris, escapes.  (Fulfilling a recent call by ISIS for moving snipers? see last blog update)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/world/europe/france-strasbourg-shooting.html?emc=edit_th_181213&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981213
France Declares Strasbourg Shooting an Act of Terrorism
STRASBOURG, France — The deadly shooting at a crowded Strasbourg street market was an act of terrorism, officials said Wednesday, as hundreds of police officers hunted the fugitive assailant, a man described as a radicalized hometown career criminal.
The gunman killed at least two people and wounded 12 in the Tuesday night shooting spree at the famous Christmas market in Strasbourg, a city of more than a quarter-million in France’s northeast border with Germany.
Rémy Heitz, the Paris prosecutor, who handles terrorism investigations nationwide, said at a news conference in Strasbourg that witnesses had heard the attacker yell “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic, and that the targets and the suspect’s profile justified the opening of a terrorism investigation.
Officials said the suspect had an extensive record and had served time in prison. More than 700 members of the security forces were searching for the suspect in Strasbourg, the French interior minister said. … …

(December 13)
ISIS follows up with more promises of Christmas terror?  Sniper attacks?

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/isis-group-that-threatened-bioattacks-vows-holiday-era-of-surprises-after-strasbourg/
ISIS Group That Threatened Bioattacks Vows Holiday 'Era of Surprises' After Strasbourg
An ISIS-supporting media group that just days ago issued a threat bearing symbols of a biological attack quickly seized on the Strasbourg, France, Christmas market attack to warn of more holiday assaults.
Suspected gunman Chérif Chekatt, 29, who was born in Strasbourg, was still on the run from police -- yet wounded in a firefight with cops, according to a taxi driver ordered to help him flee from the shopping area -- after at least two people were killed, one has been declared brain-dead, and 13 more were wounded. One of the dead is a tourist who was visiting from Thailand.  … …

***
Is the connection too logical to miss?  After superstar “philanthropic” supporters/overseers like Rex Tillerson advocated and installed a sodomite agenda for the Boy Scouts, do the Scouts now begin to collapse under the weight of sex-abuse allegations and issues?
What sickening harm do the boys and young men of our present “culture” face!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/boy-scouts-of-america-considers-bankruptcy-filing-amid-sex-abuse-lawsuits-11544649657
Boy Scouts of America Considers Bankruptcy Filing Amid Sex-Abuse Lawsuits
Nonprofit has hired law firm Sidley Austin for assistance in a possible chapter 11 bankruptcy filing
The Boy Scouts of America is considering filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces dwindling membership and escalating legal costs related to lawsuits over how it handled allegations of sex abuse. … …

***
Ultimate “progressive” cheek?  “For $50,000 each, we will go home.”
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sd-me-migrant-demands-12122018-story.html
Migrant groups march to U.S. consulate in Tijuana demanding reparations
Two groups of Central American migrants made separate marches on the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana Tuesday, demanding that they be processed through the asylum system more quickly and in greater numbers, that deportations be halted and that President Trump either let them into the country or pay them $50,000 each to go home. … …
***
Blatant segregation, reverse racism to “promote inclusion”?  Double-speak?

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/12/11/american-university-students-and-staff-call-for-minority-only-spaces-on-campus-to-promote-inclusion/
American University Students and Staff Call for Minority-Only ‘Spaces’ on Campus to Promote Inclusion
American University students and administrators are pushing for “spaces” on campus designated for “students of color,” claiming that it will promote diversity and inclusion at the university.
Students and staff at American University (AU) are calling for “the creation of more spaces for students of color,” so that minority students can have an area on campus where they can go to be separated from the rest of the campus body, in the name of “diversity and inclusion,” according to the university’s student newspaper.
AU students are criticizing the university’s Hub for Organizing Multiculturalism and Equity (HOME) for being “marketed to students of all backgrounds rather than to students of color.” … …
***
(December 14)
The Crowded Skies — And so it begins, the March of the Drones —  Tijuana incident here reported by RT / Russian Times
https://www.rt.com/news/446416-plane-drone-collision-mexico/

Drone shatters passenger jet’s nosecone & radar during landing 
A drone has collided with a passenger airplane in Mexico, mauling its nosecone and radome as the jet was attempting to land in Tijuana, Mexico. The crew had to request assistance to land the crippled aircraft.
An Aeromexico Boeing 737-800 collided with the remote-controlled craft while approaching the airport for landing on Wednesday, according to reports on social media which were later confirmed by the airline. …  …

***
Freedom of the Press? NOT! / The New Normal?
Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal
For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. … …
***
(December 15)
CRISPR-Cas9 DNA editing — First “unintended consequences” (monstrosities) spring from the wells of “unclean spirits.”  “As it was in the days of Noah,” Luke 17:26   …”all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth,” Genesis 6:12.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/deformities-alarm-scientists-racing-to-rewrite-animal-dna-11544808779
Big Tongues and Extra Vertebrae: The Unintended Consequences of Animal Gene Editing
Unintended consequences have included enlarged rabbit tongues and extra pig vertebrae, as bioethicists warn of hubris
When Chinese researchers deleted a gene that limits muscle growth in mammals so that rabbits would grow leaner, their creations exhibited an unusual characteristic: enlarged tongues. Similar experiments on Chinese pigs led some to develop an additional vertebrae. Gene-edited calves died prematurely in Brazil and New Zealand.
The stumbles show the risks of racing ahead with such experiments, even as many governments work to clear regulatory pathways to bring meat, eggs and dairy from gene-edited animals to store shelves. Bioethicists and many geneticists have raised doubts about applying the gene-editing technology to animals and especially humans, given the continued uncertainties in both the science and the lab and field results. 
“Humans have a very long history of messing around in nature with all kinds of unintended consequences,” said Lisa Moses, an animal bioethicist at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics. “It’s really hubris of us to assume that we know what we’re doing and that we can predict what kinds of bad things can happen.”
The belief has spread that scientists know how gene editing works “all the time, under all conditions,” says Odd-Gunnar Wikmark, a researcher at the Norway-based foundation GenOk, which studies the consequences of genetic engineering. “We of course do not.” … …
***
U.S. entanglements in Syria, are they stirring the international pot that will create the strategies for Ezekiel’s WW3 (chs. 38 & 39) that will precede Armageddon?

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/in-america-s-hidden-war-in-syria-troops-face-peril-on-many-fronts-1.560780
In America's hidden war in Syria, troops face peril on many fronts
RAQQA, Syria — This ruined, fearful city was once the Islamic State's capital, the showcase of its caliphate and a magnet for foreign fighters from around the globe.
Now it lies at the heart of the United States' newest commitment to a Middle East war.
The commitment is small, a few thousand troops who were first sent to Syria three years ago to help the Syrian Kurds fight the Islamic State. President Donald Trump indicated in March that the troops would be brought home once the battle is won, and the latest military push to eject the group from its final pocket of territory recently got underway.
In September, however, the administration switched course, saying the troops will stay in Syria pending an overall settlement to the Syrian war and with a new mission: to act as a bulwark against Iran's expanding influence. (Ed. note:  Iran is Ezekiel’s Persia.)
***
History Repeats?  Remember the failed CIA “Bay of Pigs Invasion” of Cuba, and moreso, “The Cuban Missile Crisis.”  Moscow to move in a military base “next door” in our hemisphere —
https://tsarizm.com/news/2018/12/14/moscow-to-set-up-military-base-in-caribbean/
Moscow To Set Up Military Base In Caribbean
Russia has decided to develop a long-term military presence in the Caribbean in conjunction with the socialist nation of Venezuela, on one of its islands in the Caribbean Sea. The move seems to be a response to the Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The recent flights of Russian Tu-160 long-range nuclear bombers are part of this effort. … …
***
Yellow-vesting moves to Britain:  Just a hunch, but will the three kings whom the Antichrist overthrows to bring the 10 kings under his one rule (Dan. 7:24, Rev. 17:12, &c.) be the three strengths of Europe:  England, France, and Germany?

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/748175/yellow-vest-protest-britain-london-westminster-bridge-blocked-cordoned-off-brexiteer
Yellow vests shutdown Tower Bridge as protest rages on
THE yellow vest protests which caused havoc in Paris have hit the UK with London Bridge at a complete standstill.

The group of yellow vest protesters, believed to be pro-Brexit, completely blocked Westminster Bridge.
The group have now moved down the river and blocked traffic at Tower Bridge, causing havoc in the capital.
They are seen on Facebook Live chanting: "What do we want? Brexit.
"When do we want it? Now?"

*** *** ***

“…nevertheless I am not ashamed: 
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him 
against that day.”

2 Timothy 1:12

************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

December 9

Saints, 

I would be frightened and sickened at the present, collapsing state of the world if I were not compelled by the Spirit to continue to observe these link reports of the situation.  Another Christian recently reminded me of those “three cousins” of our spiritual life:  Faith, Hope, and Love.  He reminded me that Faith and Hope will not be needed in the next world but will have come to their completion, and that only Love, “the greatest of all,” will remain.  Even now, clinging to Faith and Hope, let us bathe daily in the Love of God and share his Love at every opportunity.  Maranatha!  Come, Lord Jesus; the Lord is at hand!

***
The Week —  
(December 3)
France writhes in the labor pains of globalism v. populism.  What will come forth?
Says Drudge Report: PARIS WORST RIOT SINCE 60’S — TAX REVOLT VIOLENT 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6451503/France-considers-imposing-state-emergency-end-civil-unrest.html
Macron starts the clean-up: Graffiti is removed from the Arc de Triomphe 24 hours after 'gilets jaunes' protesters stole assault rifle from cops, attacked police, burned cars and left 133 injured in France's worst riots in 50 years
Graffiti was removed from the Arc de Triomphe today after anti-Macron protesters stormed through Paris on Saturday. 
The protesters occupied the city centre and torched cars, smashed windows with clubs and axes and stole an assault rifle from riot police firing tear gas and water cannon in France's worst urban rioting for years.
The French President - who faced calls to resign from protesters who scrawled anti-Macron slogans on the Arc de Triomphe - today vowed to bring the rioters to justice as he inspected wreckage on the Champs-Elysees. 
The 'yellow vest' protests, which began as a rebellion against a fuel tax hike but have expanded into weeks of civil unrest, spread across the country yesterday and ended with 133 people injured, including 23 police officers, and 412 arrested last night. … …

***
Where the disapproved disappear without benefit of due process?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6454319/Chinese-gene-editing-scientist-missing-amid-rumours-arrest.html
Chinese scientist who claims he created world's first gene-edited babies is missing amid rumours of arrest
	•	He Jiankui's whereabouts remain unknown after Hong Kong summit last week
	•	Reports say He was placed under house arrest in Shenzhen after the conference
	•	But former workplace say detention claims are inaccurate without elaborating
	•	Scientist modified the DNA of twins to make them resistant to infection with HIV
The whereabouts of Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claims to have created the world's first gene-edited babies, remain unknown amid rumours that he has been arrested.
Reports claimed He was placed under effective house arrest in Shenzhen after making an appearance at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong last Wednesday. 
However, claims of He's detention were dismissed by his former-employer, Southern University of Science and Technology, according to South China Morning Post. The university declined to elaborate further. … …
***
Got it right this time, Alex Jones!  “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations…” (Revelation 13:7)
https://www.infowars.com/scientists-urge-world-to-share-dna-in-centralized-database-for-your-protection/
SCIENTISTS URGE WORLD TO SHARE DNA IN CENTRALIZED DATABASE “FOR YOUR PROTECTION”
Remember, you have nothing to fear from this ultimate invasion of privacy if you have done nothing wrong…
Between the ever-encroaching eye of Big Brother, the imminent events of pre-crime AI, the exposure of tech behemoth privacy contempt, and the inevitable ‘hack’ of any and everything online, it is perhaps understandable that your average joe is more than a little nervous.
No matter how romantic the idea of discovering you are 1/1024th native American – to hand over their DNA to the next tom, dick or dotcom wanting to tell you if you’re lactose intolerant or when you’ll get diabetes.

But, luckily for all of us skeptics, the clever people have a solution to our plebian ignorance.
As Bloomberg reports, a group of medical researchers have a counter-intuitive proposal for shielding people’s most intimate personal data from prying eyes.
Bloomberg’s Kristen Brown writes that in a new paper published in the journal Science on Thursday, researchers suggest that the best way to protect genetic information might be for all Americans to deposit their data in a universal, nationwide DNA database.  … …

***
Wolves trying to pull down Bibi?  Pray for the salvation, both temporal and eternal, of this son of David who is set to the watch over present Israel.
http://news.trust.org/item/20181202200138-f9yve
Netanyahu's legal woes grow as police seek new bribery charges
JERUSALEM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Israeli police on Sunday said they had found enough evidence for bribery and fraud charges to be brought against Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife in a third corruption case against the Israeli prime minister.
Authorities allege Netanyahu awarded regulatory favours to Israel's leading telecommunications company, Bezeq Telecom Israel, in return for more positive coverage of him and his wife on a news website, Walla, owned by the company.
Netanyahu has long denied wrongdoing. In a speech to his Likud party in Tel Aviv to celebrate the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukka, he accused the police of instigating what he described as a "tainted process" against him and his wife.
Now in his fourth term, Netanyahu dominates Israeli politics. Yet he is politically unusually vulnerable as his right-wing coalition's majority has shrunk to a precarious single seat. … …
***
Epidemic Homelessness in California after the fires — Is serious, nomadic, outdoor, tribal living going to become a new norm?

https://www.wral.com/after-a-california-wildfire-new-and-old-homeless-populations-collide/18036706/
After a California Wildfire, New and Old Homeless Populations Collide
CHICO, Calif. — Even before the first flames of the Camp Fire were set ablaze, there already was a state of emergency in the wooded hills and farmlands north of Sacramento.
The homeless situation in parts of Butte County, including the cities of Chico, Oroville and Gridley was so bad — with shelters so crowded and providers lacking the resources to serve and expand them — that the county formally declared a crisis in October, initiating a process to secure millions of dollars in state aid.
And then came the fire, destroying nearly 14,000 residences and adding an entirely new population of tens of thousands of people to California’s long-entrenched homeless crisis.
“It was already a pretty dire situation,” said Laura Cootsona, executive director of the Jesus Center in Chico, one of a handful of primary homeless shelters in the county. … …
***
A reconstituting Sanhedrin, the ancient body of the 70 Elders of Israel, invites 70 nations (both significant numerics) to join the blessing of a new sacrificial altar for the expected new Temple.  This Third Temple will be defiled by “The Abomination of Desolation,” when Antichrist sits down on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the inner Holy of Holies of this new Temple, and declares himself to be the messiah, God-incarnate upon the Earth.  This will occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation and begin the Great Tribulation of the last 3 1/2 years before “the great and terrible day of the Lord,” when Christ returns to destroy the world system, the unrepentant — those marked with The Mark of the Beast — and the Antichrist and his False Prophet in the Battle of Armageddon. We are in amazing times, “the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8), as we begin to see these things taking shape.  The only thing to rejoice about at the building of this third Temple is the indicated nearness of Christ’s Return.  It will become a badge of shame to the Jews who will not receive their Messiah Jesus and his Great Sacrifice as the Lamb of God, but who want to return to the blood sacrifices of the Temple.  They have rejected Grace for their own righteousness.  I am and we can be very pro-Zionist and not at all anti-Semitic to note these things, but all Flesh, both Jew and Gentile, must have Christ as Lord to be saved.  Said John the Baptist in Matthew 3:9, “God can raise up (physical) children of Abraham out of these stones if He should so desire” (paraphrased), but the true children of Abraham, the spiritual Jews — the true church— bow the knee to Jesus.  A yet-the-worst holocaust awaits the Jews in the Tribulation Period.  Their own prophet (and ours), Zechariah, says 2 out of 3 Jews in Israel (and/or worldwide) will die in these events before the remaining third turn to the Lord Jesus to be saved, Zechariah 13:8-9.  Jesus Himself (Matthew 23:37-39) said in lamenting over Jerusalem in the days before the Crucifixion, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”  The Pharisees, including perhaps many of today’s Sanhedrin will gnash their teeth at these thoughts and might kill the other Zechariah again if they could, but, even in our day, many Jews have become “Jews for Jesus” and entered salvation.  This surely answers many prayers lifted up for Israel by the Church.  Yet, the prophecies on those outside the Faith in our Messiah remain.  God will be glorified.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2782
Sanhedrin Invites 70 Nations To Hanukkah Dedication Of Altar For Third Temple
The decision to prepare the blocks and all the details of their composition is the result of a long study performed by the members of the Sanhedrin in conjunction with the Temple Institute. The stones are made of aerated concrete and are fit for use in the Temple. There are plans underway to prepare a new set made of actual stones which are considered the ideal material from which to build the altar.
A full-dress reenactment of the Korban Olah Tamid (the daily offering) will take place. Kohanim (Jewish men of the priestly caste descended from Aaron) wearing Biblically mandated garb will lead the ceremony. The location is still unclear as the Jerusalem municipality is weighing security concerns that a Jewish ceremony of this sort will precipitate Muslim violence if performed in view of the Temple Mount. 
Also at question is whether the Kohanim will ritually slaughter a lamb or whether prepared meat will be brought. Though the Sanhedrin has received all of the necessary permits from the government organizations in charge of slaughtering animals, they are still waiting for the municipality to approve that part of the ceremony. In either case, the meat will be roasted on the newly consecrated altar.
The priests will also perform the korban mincha in which the grain offerings that accompany the korban tamid are offered along with nesachim, a wine libation.
A large menorah will be lit as part of the ceremony. Rabbi Hillel Weiss explained the significance of the ceremony being held on the last day of Hanukkah.
***
Sure, spread CRISP-Cas9 genetic splicing to sea creatures to weaponize them!  Quick road to the pre-flood world:  “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth,” Genesis 6:12.  Such splicings are passed along to next generations as permanent mutations. How quickly will the settled natural gene pools be mutated and “monsterized”!

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/12/us-military-genetically-engineering-new-life-forms-detect-enemy-subs/153200/?oref=d-river
The US Military Is Genetically Engineering New Life Forms To Detect Enemy Subs
How do you detect submarines in an expanse as large as the ocean? The U.S. military hopes that common marine microorganisms might be genetically engineered into living tripwires to signal the passage of enemy subs, underwater vessels, or even divers.
***
(December 4)
Macron Capitulates.  Is he sensing the danger of overthrow?  A world full of “carbon tax” (baloney?) vs. humans’ and civilizations’ needs?  Globalism v. Populism; Rich v. Poor.  “Let them eat cake,” reputedly said Marie Antoinette, Mistress over France, afterwards guillotined! (When the French get upset, they get really upset!)

http://news.trust.org//item/20181204101923-odaxw/
Macron set for tax U-turn to quell "yellow vest" protests
PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The French government is preparing to suspend fuel tax increases after weeks of sometimes violent protests, a government source said on Tuesday, in what would mark a major U-turn by President Emmanuel Macron after 18 months in office.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was due to announce the suspension later on Tuesday, the source said, although it was unclear whether he would announce a time-limited "moratorium" or abandon the next carbon-tax increase entirely.
The so-called "yellow vest" movement, which started on Nov. 17 as a social-media-organised protest group named for the high-visibility jackets all motorists in France must have in their cars, has focused on denouncing a squeeze on household spending brought about by Macron's taxes on fuel.
The president says the taxes are needed to combat climate change. Ditching them could be a major embarrassment as governments meet in Poland to try to pin down measures to avert the most damaging consequences of global warming. … …

Do the people smell a rat?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-global-carbon-tax-revolt-1543880507
The Global Carbon Tax Revolt
The French are the latest to refuse to sacrifice growth for green piety.
France’s violent Yellow Vest protests are now about many domestic concerns, but it’s no accident that the trigger was a fuel-tax hike. Nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation.
The fault line runs between anti-carbon policies and economic growth, and France is a test for the political future of emissions restrictions. France already is a relatively low-carbon economy, with per-capita emissions half Germany’s as of 2014. French governments have nonetheless pursued an “ecological transition” to further squeeze carbon emissions from every corner of the French economy. The results are visible in the Paris streets. … …

***
After the moving sniper team, firing from a tiny, virtually invisible porthole in the trunk of a moving Chevy sedan some years back (2002) terrorized Washington D.C. (https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/october/snipers_102207), I have remained amazed that other terrorists have not adopted the same methodologies.  Now, ISIS threatens to use the same terror tactics in NYC ‘with silencers and snipers’.  I believe it is only God who has restrained these thoughts in their minds, and I pray now, and join with me, that He will so restrain such a frightening and debilitating attack on public life…and this for the sake of the saints and demonstrating of the Gospel until we are taken up:  “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth (restrains, holds back) will let, until he be taken out of the way,” 2 Thessalonians 2:7.  God “is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9.

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/isis-groups-nyc-new-years-threat-harvest-them-with-silencers-and-snipers/
ISIS Group's NYC New Year's Threat: 'Harvest Them with Silencers and Snipers'
excerpt:  ”And hit them with the explosive belts and vehicle bomb, and shock them with adhesive explosives and packages, and harvest them with silencers and snipers, horrify and terrify them with the intrusions," the text says.

***
Will conflicted, schizoid Oregon, home of “Portlandia,” seek solace in legalizing psychedelics first?  Now, that’s REALLY crisp!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/worldnews/7891561/oregon-first-us-state-legalise-magic-mushrooms/
HAVE A NICE TRIP  Oregon is close to becoming the first US state to legalise magic mushrooms
If those in favour of legalising the psychedelic drug get enough signatures it could go to a vote in the 2020 general election

***
Rolling Thunder?  When will it stop?  When will the Alaska Quake Quit?  Are “aftershocks” anything less than a continuing quake event?
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/12/03/nearly-1400-aftershocks-have-been-measured-since-fridays-70-earthquake-in-alaska/
Some 1,800 aftershocks have been measured since Friday’s 7.0 earthquake in Alaska
***
Hmmm?  Where does the mass paranoia of internet conspiracy theories fit into the declines of these last days?  …Any truth in them?  …A general state of fear, misinformation, manipulated half-truths, fake-news pervading the culture?

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/03/golden-state-of-paranoia-internet-conspiracies-link-wildfires-to-takeover-schemes/
Golden State of paranoia: Internet conspiracies link wildfires to takeover schemes
“Hidden powers behind these calculated strikes,” they warn
As investigators conduct a painstaking probe for the causes of California’s devastating wildfires, conspiracists have spawned their own theory: ignition by a secret cabal of nefarious “internationalists,” including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sergey Brin, who seek to run the world.
“There are hidden powers behind these calculated strikes in California,” warns one YouTube video, titled “An Open Letter To the People of California.”
In Facebook forums, YouTube videos and Reddit threads amassing tens of thousands of views, believers swap manipulated images of “light pillars” from the sky — proof, they say, that rural homes were targeted to burn, forcing residents into cities, where they can be more easily controlled by shadowy forces scheming at oppression. … …
***
“Deep transformations” translates to mass population, food, and distribution controls.  So-called Progressives have their mantras and holy grails of supposed righteousness.  It may be true that we are contributing to our own judgment through the greed, iniquity, and fallen human needs by polluting and, possibly, bringing on Climate Change, BUT one good Krakatoa-sized volcano (1883) could bring on a nuclear winter that would decimate the planet easily and far more quickly and efficiently than our relatively puny effluents.  What all this desired control amounts to is a self-righteous (“We gotta fix it ourselves..!”) effort to stop End of the Age Events, lay the blame on political adversaries, and point the finger at the people.  “Give up your meat and bread and gasoline and home heat to save the precious planet.”  But, while we should look for more efficiency and less inequities (iniquities), this will not stop nor hinder the End of the Age events which include massive planetary changes and catastrophes and even events descending from “the heavens,” space.  Better to purify our hearts and get ready, and let those who love darkness perish in it.  Note:  These same “progressives” drive their cars and fly their planes to events where they proclaim their messages. Let them be the first to give up all transportation but by foot and all foods but grasses and seaweed and live in grass huts wearing grass skirts!  In cold climates, they can hug a seal!  At least, it might quiet them down from using the energy-hungry internet and media! …not to mention the endless CO2 (and methane) from their own rhetoric!

http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/12/03/un-climate-chief-has-solution-to-urgent-climate-threat-we-require-deep-transformations-of-our-economies-and-societies/
UN climate chief has solution to ‘urgent’ climate threat: ‘We require deep transformations of our economies and societies’
***
No, we can’t!  Absolute jibber-jabber to this male brain!  Sure, individual brains vary by individuality as well as by gender, but how hard is it to see that there are fundamental, and meant-to-be-complementary, differences between males and females?  Very much alike but somewhat different. This applies to the physical, visible bodily structures of humans as well as to the hormonal and other, nuanced distinctions, so obviously, why not the brain too when it is also influenced by the rest of the being of the person and by the subjective and the objective worlds in which it lives and functions?  

Read the whole piece with biblical discernment to see the wishful but fallacious “scientifically projected” analysis.  But here are a couple of lines lifted from the piece that show the disingenuity, the “double-speak,” the equivocation-in-the-name-of-science here self-engendered, saying something and then mitigating it and taking it back in the same thoughts: 

“In 2015, one of us, Daphna Joel, led an analysis of four large data sets of brain scans, and found that the sex differences you see overall between men’s and women’s brains aren’t neatly and consistently seen in individual brains. In other words, humans generally don’t have brains with mostly or exclusively “female-typical” features or “male-typical” features. Instead, what’s most common in both females and males are brains with “mosaics” of features, some of them more common in males and some more common in females.”

“The notion of fundamentally female and male brains or natures is a misconception. Brains and behavior are the product of the combined, continuous interactions of innumerable causal influences, that include, but go well beyond, sex-linked factors.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/opinion/male-female-brains-mosaic.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20181204&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=7&nlid=69381998emc%3Dedit_ty_20181204&ref=headline&te=1
Can We Finally Stop Talking About ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ Brains?
Recent research is making it clearer than ever that the notion that sex determines the fundamentals of brain structure and behavior is a misconception.
***
(December 5)
When/Where do transplants cross “the Frankensteinian Line”?
https://www.statnews.com/2018/12/04/for-the-first-time-a-baby-is-born-via-a-uterus-transplant-from-a-deceased-donor/
For the first time, a baby is born via a uterus transplant from a deceased donor
For the first time, a woman has given birth after receiving a uterus transplant from a deceased donor, researchers reported Tuesday. Until now, only uterus transplants from living donors have led to successful births.
The whole field of uterus transplantation is in its early days. But researchers said that if transplant teams can reliably use uteruses from deceased donors, it could expand the availability of organs and reduce living donors’ risks during surgery to remove the uterus.
“This is really an exciting moment,” said Dr. Rebecca Flyckt, a reproductive endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the research. “It’s proof-of-concept that a deceased donor is really a good model.” … …

***
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/upshot/americans-value-equality-at-work-more-than-equality-at-home.html?emc=edit_th_181205&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981205
 Americans Value Equality at Work More Than Equality at Home
A study finds broad support for gender equality, but a disparity in people’s views of gender roles in public and private.
***
A.I. Chatbots seek and succeed in entering the human conversation, effecting political views and decisions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/opinion/chatbots-ai-democracy-free-speech.html?emc=edit_th_181205&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981205
Chatbots Are a Danger to Democracy
We need to identify, disqualify and regulate chatbots before they destroy political speech.
excerpt:  A blunt approach — call it disqualification — would be an all-out prohibition of bots on forums where important political speech takes place, and punishment for the humans responsible. The Bot Disclosure and Accountability Bill introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, proposes something similar. It would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit candidates and political parties from using any bots intended to impersonate or replicate human activity for public communication. It would also stop PACs, corporations and labor organizations from using bots to disseminate messages advocating candidates, which would be considered “electioneering communications.”
A subtler method would involve mandatory identification: requiring all chatbots to be publicly registered and to state at all times the fact that they are chatbots, and the identity of their human owners and controllers. Again, the Bot Disclosure and Accountability Bill would go some way to meeting this aim, requiring the Federal Trade Commission to force social media platforms to introduce policies requiring users to provide “clear and conspicuous notice” of bots “in plain and clear language,” and to police breaches of that rule. The main onus would be on platforms to root out transgressors.

We should also be exploring more imaginative forms of regulation. Why not introduce a rule, coded into platforms themselves, that bots may make only up to a specific number of online contributions per day, or a specific number of responses to a particular human? Bots peddling suspect information could be challenged by moderator-bots to provide recognized sources for their claims within seconds. Those that fail would face removal.
We need not treat the speech of chatbots with the same reverence that we treat human speech. Moreover, bots are too fast and tricky to be subject to ordinary rules of debate. For both those reasons, the methods we use to regulate bots must be more robust than those we apply to people. There can be no half-measures when democracy is at stake.
***
(December 6)
“And the beat goes on…”  In this case, the propaganda for climate change.  Human civilizations and their effects on nature don’t change that fast…”like a speeding train.”  Even the writers here speak of figures like “1.6%.”  It may well be that vast and quick changes are happening, but they are the results of the inevitable unfolding of End of the Age biblical prophecies, in which human pollution’s part may be far smaller, and certainly far less self-important, than imagined.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-2018.html?emc=edit_th_181206&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981206
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerate Like a ‘Speeding Freight Train’ in 2018
Greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are growing at an accelerating pace this year, researchers said Wednesday, putting the world on track to face some of the most severe consequences of global warming sooner than expected.
Scientists described the quickening rate of carbon dioxide emissions in stark terms, comparing it to a “speeding freight train” and laying part of the blame on an unexpected surge in the appetite for oil as people around the world not only buy more cars but also drive them farther than in the past — more than offsetting any gains from the spread of electric vehicles.“We’ve seen oil use go up five years in a row,” said Rob Jackson, a professor of earth system science at Stanford and an author of one of two studies published Wednesday. “That’s really surprising.”Worldwide, carbon emissions are expected to increase by 2.7 percent in 2018, according to new research, which was published by the Global Carbon Project, a group of 100 scientists from more than 50 academic and research institutions and one of the few organizations to comprehensively examine global emissions numbers. Emissions rose 1.6 percent last year, the researchers said, ending a three-year plateau.
Reducing carbon emissions is central to stopping global warming. Three years ago nearly 200 nations hammered out the Paris Agreement with a goal of holding warming below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (two degrees Celsius) over preindustrial levels.Avoiding that threshold — already considered challenging — is viewed as a way to stave off some of the worst effects of climate change, like melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels. For the Paris goals to be met, scientists say, global emissions from power plants, factories, cars and trucks, as well as those from deforestation, would need to swiftly begin declining to zero. (editor-added emphasis, “back to the bush”!)President Trump, however, has vowed to pull the United States out of the accord and has moved to roll back Obama-Area regulations designed to limit emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. On Tuesday he wrote on Twitter that the Paris Agreement was “fatally flawed” because its system of voluntary pledges let other countries off the hook, adding that “American taxpayers — and American workers — shouldn’t pay to clean up others countries’ pollution.”… …
***
What could possibly go wrong?  Cross-species surgeries.  Sure, save lives, but will God be pleased?  Said John Lennon long ago, “Have you seen the little piggies in their starched white shirts…Life is always getting worse…”?  What will happen to human sensibilities?  Into the trough of gimme, gimme, gimme? Oink? Better to continue the research to grow new hearts on collagen scaffolds with stem cells harvested from the same patient with the same DNA?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/12/05/pig-hearts-could-soon-tested-humans-scientists-pass-important/
Pig hearts could soon be tested in humans after scientists pass important milestone
Pig hearts could soon be tested in humans after scientists passed an important milestone when transplanting the organs into primates.

***
(December 7) “Pearl Harbor Day”

‘historical turning point’  …”And he (the False Prophet of Revelation 13) had power to give life unto the image of the beast…(v.15).

https://news.yahoo.com/deepmind-apos-alphazero-now-showing-190000147.html
DeepMind's AlphaZero now showing human-like intuition in historical 'turning point' for AI
DeepMind’s artificial intelligence programme AlphaZero is now showing signs of human-like intuition and creativity, in what developers have hailed as ‘turning point’ in history.
The computer system amazed the world last year when it mastered the game of chess from scratch within just four hours, despite not being programmed how to win.
But now, after a year of testing and analysis by chess grandmasters, the machine has developed a new style of play unlike anything ever seen before, suggesting the programme is now improvising like a human.
Unlike the world’s best chess machine - Stockfish - which calculates millions of possible outcomes as it plays, AlphaZero learns from its past successes and failures, making its moves based on, a ‘nebulous sense that it is all going to work out in the long run,’ according to experts at DeepMind.
When AlphaZero was pitted against Stockfish in 1,000 games, it lost just six, winning convincingly 155 times, and drawing the remaining bouts.
Yet it was the way that it played that has amazed developers. While chess computers predominately like to hold on to their pieces, AlphaZero readily sacrificed its soldiers for a better position in the skirmish.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Prof David Silver, who leads the reinforcement learning research group at DeepMind said: “It’s got a very subtle sense of intuition which helps it balance out all the different factors.
“It’s got a neural network with millions of different tunable parameters, each learning its own rules of what is good in chess, and when you put them all together you have something that expresses, in quite a brain-like way, our human ability to glance at a position and say ‘ah ha this is the right thing to do'.
“My personal belief is that we’ve seen something of turning point where we’re starting to understand that many abilities, like intuition and creativity, that we previously thought were in the domain only of the human mind are actually accessible to machine intelligence as well. And I think that’s a really exciting moment in history.”… …
***
France, by Friday, near revolution?  89,000 troops called out.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-protests-security/france-to-deploy-89000-security-personnel-ahead-of-saturday-protests-idUSKBN1O52BS
France to deploy 89,000 security personnel ahead of Saturday protests
		PARIS (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said 89,000 members of the security forces would be deployed nationwide on Saturday, including 8,000 in Paris, where armored vehicles will also be out on the streets.“We are facing people who are not here to protest, but to smash and we want to have the means to not give them a free rein,” Philippe told TF1 television’s evening news program on Thursday, revising an earlier figure of 65,000 forces. … …
		
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1055152/Macron-news-france-crisis-protests-end-of-macron-no-confidence-vote
END OF MACRON: French MPs launch NO CONFIDENCE vote amid nationwide anger and riots
EMMANUEL Macron’s leadership is hanging by a thread as left-wing groups within the French parliament discuss launching a no confidence vote against the president.

***
In the back door of climate change politicking — Global Socialism as Justice

https://news.grabien.com/story-ocasio-cortez-inevitable-global-warming-governance-will-crea
OCASIO-CORTEZ: ‘INEVITABLE’ GLOBAL WARMING GOVERNANCE WILL CREATE ‘ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND RACIAL JUSTICE’
‘It’s inevitable that we can use the transition to 100% renewable energy as the vehicle to truly deliver and establish economic, social, and racial justice in the United States of America’
		
***
First presuppositions / discussions of mandatory human microchipping —
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/kevin-mccandless/mandatory-implantation-microchips-employees-uk-govt-says-it-would
Mandatory Implantation of Microchips in Employees? UK Government says it Would Likely be Illegal

***
(December 8)
A grim reaper of pestilence and plague spreads its influence to a major city of the Congo — Lord, your mercy until the End!

https://www.apnews.com/86fd89fa73594ed0aa098c6c5a063300
Ebola spreads to major Congo city as vaccines a concern

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The second-largest Ebola outbreak in history has spread to a major city in eastern Congo, as health experts worry whether the stock of an experimental vaccine will stand up to the demands of an epidemic with no end in sight.
Butembo, with more than 1 million residents, is now reporting cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. That complicates Ebola containment work already challenged by rebel attacks elsewhere that have made tracking the virus almost impossible in some isolated villages. … …
***
As saith an old rock song of strange times, “…must be the season of the witch,” as a till recently unknown socialist arises to stir blackened pots?

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39160/ocasio-cortez-threatens-retaliate-against-trump-jr-ryan-saavedra
Ocasio-Cortez Threatens To Retaliate Against Trump Jr. Over Meme, Twitter Explodes With Accusations Of Ethics Violations
A source close to Donald Trump Jr. says that they expect an ethics complaint will be filed.
Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatened to use the powers of her elected office to retaliate against Donald Trump Jr. on Friday after the president's son posted a meme trolling her on his personal Instagram account.
"I have noticed that Junior here has a habit of posting nonsense about me whenever the Mueller investigation heats up," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "Please, keep it coming Jr - it’s definitely a “very, very large brain” idea to troll a member of a body that will have subpoena power in a month." … …

***
One has to wonder, what prehistoric civilization’s errors nearly wiped out the planet “250 Million years ago”? (said this cynical editor spouting some silly sarcasms).  Jibber-Jabber.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/science/climate-change-mass-extinction.html?emc=edit_th_181208&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981208
The Planet Has Seen Sudden Warming Before. It Wiped Out Almost Everything.
In some ways, the planet's worst mass extinction — 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian Period — may parallel climate change today.
Some 252 million years ago, Earth almost died.
In the oceans, 96 percent of all species became extinct. It’s harder to determine how many terrestrial species vanished, but the loss was comparable.
This mass extinction, at the end of the Permian Period, was the worst in the planet’s history, and it happened over a few thousand years at most — the blink of a geological eye.
On Thursday, a team of scientists offered a detailed accounting of how marine life was wiped out during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Global warming robbed the oceans of oxygen, they say, putting many species under so much stress that they died off.
And we may be repeating the process, the scientists warn. If so, then climate change is “solidly in the category of a catastrophic extinction event,” said Curtis Deutsch, an earth scientist at the University of Washington and co-author of the new study, published in the journal Science. … …

***
Making Pale Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code Level Intrigues?  Come, Lord Jesus!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/world/europe/princess-gloria-von-thurn-und-taxis-francis.html?emc=edit_th_181208&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981208
The ‘It’ ’80’s Party Girl Is Now a Defender of the Catholic Faith
REGENSBURG, Germany — Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis breezed through her 500-room German palace, keys in hand and a bracelet of rubies and a Virgin Mary charm on her wrist.
She stopped to admire the ornate chapel where her great-grandmother-in-law Crown Princess Helene had died in bed and where her friend Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, once said Mass.
Then she headed down to the medieval cloister where she preferred to say her daily prayers.
In the crypt chapel, the diminutive, chatty and ebullient princess went silent as she removed her rose-tinted designer glasses, knelt in her Comme des Garçons pants on the upholstered kneeler and solemnly pressed her forehead against her laced fingers.
Colored light poured in through the six stained glass windows and onto the 58-year-old’s checked Yves Saint Laurent jacket as Msgr. Wilhelm Imkamp, a conservative prelate once touted by conservatives as a potential archbishop of Berlin, offered his lone parishioner communion.
The soles of her Hermès shoes — as white as the altar’s Carrara marble Jesus — faced the grating above the crypt where her deceased husband and his noble family’s ancestors lay in polished coffins.
“Amen,” she said.
Princess Gloria — once christened “Princess TNT” for her explosive years as a hard partying, art-collecting, punk-haired aristocrat — has grown into the sun queen around which many traditionalist Roman Catholics opposed to Pope Francis orbit. Her Regensburg castle is a potential “Gladiator School” for conservative Catholics on a crusade to preserve church traditions.
Her Roman palace overlooking the ancient forum is a preferred salon for opposition cardinals, bitter bishops and populists like Stephen K. Bannon. Many of them are hoping to use the sex abuse crisis that amounts to the greatest existential threat to the church in centuries to topple the 81-year-old pontiff, who they are convinced is destroying the faith.
Princess Gloria, who is close with Hillary Clinton, the former Vogue editor André Leon Talley and celebrities like Quincy Jones, rejected any suggestion that she was running a secret society out of her palaces, where she said she provided an open house in which a visitor could meet a “transvestite or a nun.” … ….
***
(December 9)
Turmoil in Europe —Taught Machiavelli to “the Prince”: to control nations, first upset the functioning, normal order, then cause peoples and events to land where you want them.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-07/macron-s-defeat-in-paris-sounds-alarm-for-europe
Macron’s Defeat in Paris Sounds Alarm for Europe
The political vultures are circling around the French president and there’s much at stake for the world order.

Less than a month ago, French President Emmanuel Macron staked his claim as the flag-bearer for globalism. In a speech to 60 world leaders at the Arc de Triomphe, he eulogized the United Nations and declared nationalism the “betrayal” of patriotism.
Last Saturday, tear gas and cobblestones flew in the same part of Paris as protesters trashed the iconic monument and demanded Macron’s embattled government withdraw a proposed fuel-tax increase. For the first time in his presidency, he backed down. It was a humbling moment for opponents of the populist revolts that spawned Donald Trump.
Europe has seen many a critical juncture in recent years, from the Greek debt crisis to the anti-immigrant backlash against refugees and Britain’s Brexit vote. Rarely, though, have so many political vultures been circling around one leader with so much at stake for the world order.
Poland is flirting with the far right and nationalist parties cajoled by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are plotting a rebellion at European Parliamentary elections in May. Meanwhile, Italy has collided with the European Union by taking a defiant stand on its budget spending.With the EU’s erstwhile firefighter, Angela Merkel, planning to step down as German chancellor, the baton was supposed to pass to Macron to uphold liberal democracy.  But Merkel’s power on the world stage was underpinned by a political fortress at home, and the French leader looks anything but solid.“You can’t make speeches about defending the international order when your popularity is at 20 percent and there are protesters in the street,” said Nicholas Dungan, a Paris-based senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. “It’s very difficult to get your credibility back.”It’s a stark contrast to the weekend of Nov. 11 as leaders marked a century since the end of World War I. Macron championed the need for global cooperation while Trump cut an isolated figure. Europe’s divisions were laid bare that day as Polish government officials marched through Warsaw with far-right groups to mark the country’s Independence Day. Macron, though, stood firm as Europe’s statesman. …  …

*** *** ***

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, 
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: 
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2

**************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

December 2

Saints, 

For such a time as this did Martin Luther pen his ultimate message.  Chased around Europe by the forces of the spirit of antichrist then manifesting, he spoke boldly of his radical transformation from ornate religion to the radical simplicity of knowing Christ by faith, converted in soul by the regeneration of The New Birth.  He made many mistakes, among the chief becoming anti-semitic when the Jews did not respond as he had hoped and expected to the regained simplicity of the Gospel and of Christ.  He also retained a feudal reliance on sacramentalism, that the body of blood and Jesus were actually in the wafer and the wine, rather than his contemporary Zwingli’s recognition that communion is memorial, “Do this in remembrance of me,” but Luther nonetheless prevailed in teaching and liberating Europe with the radical return to the saving doctrines of “Justification by Faith” via the personal, indwelling knowledge of Jesus in us:  “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  By the power of orthodox Faith and the Presence of the Spirit, he bravely faced martyrdom for many years for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus.  Let us take heart from him.

Luther’s great hymn is a full and complete sermon of the Gospel, reading and building from line to glorious line throughout its stanzas, a whole and complete message.  Consider it and strengthen yourselves in our Mighty Faith!

Ein Feste Burg / A Mighty Fortress

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. 
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, 
and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. 

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, 
the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; 
Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle. 

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, 
we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. 
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, 
for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him. 

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours, 
thru him who with us sideth.  Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; 
the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever. 

***

The Week —  
(November 25)
Another Kind of Invasion — Ubiquitous Surveillance Inside Our Homes

https://pjmedia.com/trending/google-reveals-plans-to-monitor-our-moods-our-movements-and-our-childrens-behavior/
Google Reveals Plans to Monitor Our Moods, Our Movements, and Our Children's Behavior at Home

Patents recently issued to Google provide a window into their development activities. While it’s no guarantee of a future product, it is a sure indication of what’s of interest to them. What we’ve given up in privacy to Google, Facebook, and others thus far is minuscule compared to what is coming if these companies get their way.
These patents tell us that Google is developing smart-home products that are capable of eavesdropping on us throughout our home in order to learn more about us and better target us with advertising. It goes much further than the current Google Home speaker that’s promoted to answer our questions and provide useful information, and the Google-owned Nest thermostat that measures environmental conditions in our home. What the patents describe are sensors and cameras mounted in every room to follow us and analyze what we’re doing throughout our home.
They describe how the cameras can even recognize the image of a movie star’s image on a resident’s t-shirt, connect it to the person’s browsing history, and send the person an ad for a new movie the star is in. … …

***
(November 26)
Hell breaketh loose?!  Gene-editing enters the human gene pool.  These edits are “downstream,” and will be inherited by succeeding generations.  These “discoveries” are reintroducing the doctrines of the Nephilim, the fallen angel / human hybrids whose evil work brought on the Judgment of the Flood.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!  (“As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man,” see Matthew 24:37.)
https://www.apnews.com/4997bb7aa36c45449b488e19ac83e86d
AP Exclusive: First gene-edited babies claimed in China
HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.
If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.
A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes.
Many mainstream scientists think it’s too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as human experimentation.
The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have — an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus.
He said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done. … …
***
Is it not the utter madness of Sodom when gender confusion is discussed, promoted, then questioned, with infighting, etc?  Here a professed feminist is Twitter-banned for noting that transgender men are not actually women.  Confusion goes before Judgment.
Shortly, will even the discernment of being “human” be criminalized? (“Oh, don’t make that multi-gendered cyborg/robot ‘feel bad’!  That’s a hate crime!”)
http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/25/twitter-permanently-bans-feminist-writing-men-arent-women
Twitter Permanently Bans Feminist For Writing That ‘Men Aren’t Women’
***
Opening the Gates of Hades?  A Deep-Sea Artificial Intelligence Colony to be established in the great depths of ocean trenches—

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2174738/beijing-plans-ai-atlantis-south-china-sea-without-human-sight
Beijing plans an AI Atlantis for the South China Sea – without a human in sight
China is planning to build a deep sea base for unmanned submarine science and defence operations in the South China Sea, a centre that might become the first artificial intelligence colony on Earth, officials and scientists involved in the plan said.
The project – named in part after Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology – was launched at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing this month after a visit to a deep sea research institute at Sanya, Hainan province, by Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. … …
***
Implantable graphene interfaces for the Brain — A Leap Forward for Cyborg - Human interfaces.  Behold, new tech-enhanced Nephilim!?
(To interface with living tissues rather than as wire electrodes)
https://newatlas.com/hydrogel-brain-electrodes/57391/
Graphene-enhanced material may be bound for the brain
There are a variety of situations that may call for the implantation of electrodes in the brain, ranging from the treatment of neurological conditions to possibly even restoring the function of paralyzed limbs.  A newly-developed hydrogel could someday replace such electrodes, allowing for better functionality.
Conventional electrodes used in neural interfaces are typically made of rigid metals such as gold or platinum. Because these don't match the soft consistency of neural tissue, they're usually coated with a flexible conductive polymer. Unfortunately, though, this increases their size, making them more obtrusive within the brain.
With that in mind, scientists from Spain's University of the Basque Country collaborated with colleagues at France's University of Strasbourg to create the experimental new biopolymer hydrogel. The gel itself is starch-based, but contains graphene to make it highly electrically-conductive.
Ordinarily, graphene isn't stable within aqueous materials such as the hydrogel. That problem was overcome with the addition of stabilizing extracts from the salvia plant. As an added bonus, those extracts have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
While small pieces of the hydrogel could one day serve as a soft, flexible alternative to the currently-used metal electrodes, the scientists note that much more research and development will be required in the meantime.
***
“Big Brother is Watching You.”
https://uk.pcmag.com/news-analysis/118553/uk-police-use-ai-system-to-stop-crime-before-it-happens
UK Police Use AI System to Stop Crime Before It Happens
The system found 1400 indicators that could help prevent crime, including "crimes committed by people in that individual’s social group." However, the system has been criticised for not addressing serious ethical issues.
It sounds like something out of Minority Report, but police in the UK want to try and use artificial-intelligence to prevent violent crimes before they occur.
According to a report by New Scientist, the system is called the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS) and works by using a "combination of AI and statistics" to assess the risk of someone becoming a victim of gun or knife crime, as well as them becoming a victim of modern slavery. … …
***
Brain Pools for the Beast?

https://theweek.com/articles/800709/labgrown-human-brains-think
Can lab-grown human brains think?
(excerpts): But things begin to stray into Frankenstein territory when scientists talk about designing realistic miniature brains. Earlier this month, researchers from the University of California, San Diego revealed they had grown organoids that spontaneously produced human-like brain waves for the first time. The electrical patterns observed by biologist Alysson Muotri and his team resembled those of infants born at 25 to 39 weeks' gestation.
There are important differences between these lab-grown brains and their real-life counterparts. First of all, they don't yet contain all of the cell types found in the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for cognition and awareness. Second, they don't have connections to other brain regions. But the very existence of electrical waves in these organoids raises uncomfortable questions about whether they could develop consciousness.
"Right now, you can grow organoids for over a year, but it's difficult to get them to the point where their size and capacity matches the real human brain," says Insoo Hyun, a professor of bioethics and philosophy at Case Western Reserve University. "As you meet short-term research goals, such as maintenance and growth, and attain a full complement of cell types, you're potentially getting closer to having conscious brains in a dish."

***
(November 28)
Wow!  What a mess!  Let the saints pray!!!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/us/politics/manafort-lawyer-trump-cooperation.html?emc=edit_th_181128&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981128
Manafort’s Lawyer Said to Brief Trump Attorneys on What He Told Mueller
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel, according to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with the conversations.  
The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions with the special counsel’s office when prosecutors discovered it after Mr. Manafort began cooperating two months ago, the people said. Some legal experts speculated that it was a bid by Mr. Manafort for a presidential pardon even as he worked with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in hopes of a lighter sentence.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the president’s personal lawyers, acknowledged the arrangement on Tuesday and defended it as a source of valuable insights into the special counsel’s inquiry and where it was headed. Such information could help shape a legal defense strategy, and it also appeared to give Mr. Trump and his legal advisers ammunition in their public relations campaign against Mr. Mueller’s office.
For example, Mr. Giuliani said, Mr. Manafort’s lawyer Kevin M. Downing told him that prosecutors hammered away at whether the president knew about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Russians promised to deliver damaging information on Hillary Clinton to his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The president has long denied knowing about the meeting in advance. “He wants Manafort to incriminate Trump,” Mr. Giuliani declared of Mr. Mueller.
While Mr. Downing’s discussions with the president’s team violated no laws, they helped contribute to a deteriorating relationship between lawyers for Mr. Manafort and Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors, who accused Mr. Manafort of holding out on them despite his pledge to assist them in any matter they deemed relevant, according to the people. That conflict spilled into public view on Monday when the prosecutors took the rare step of declaring that Mr. Manafort had breached his plea agreement by lying to them about a variety of subjects.
Mr. Manafort’s lawyers insisted that their client had been truthful but acknowledged that the two sides were at an impasse. Mr. Manafort will now face sentencing on two conspiracy charges and eight counts of financial fraud — crimes that could put him behind bars for at least 10 years.
Mr. Downing did not respond to a request for comment. Though it was unclear how frequently he spoke to Mr. Trump’s lawyers or how much he revealed, his updates helped reassure Mr. Trump’s legal team that Mr. Manafort had not implicated the president in any possible wrongdoing. … ….
***
(November 29)
When so-called Christians, in positions of assumed authority completely outside the biblical instruction for gender roles, use emotional manipulations to control crowds and create “group spirit,” the spirit of antichrist is in ascendance;
forwarded from bereancall.org, “Daily Update” for  November 28.

Man from Beth Moore’s Worship Band Apologizes to Women on Behalf of All Men
One of the male members from Beth Moore’s worship band got on his knees and apologized to the women in attendance at a conference for Native American women for any pain they have received because of men. Moore shared her reflections on the moment, which took place at a Living Proof Live event in Chinle, Arizona, on Twitter Monday morning.
Moore shared a picture of her drummer, Kevin Jones, on his knees speaking to the assembled audience. She said he asked “their forgiveness for all hurts & harms they’ve ever received at the hands of men."
She went on to praise Jones, whom she said created the most powerful moment of the weekend, saying that “I don’t know a man who’s more of a gentleman than Kevin Jones.” Then she added, “But he humbly & gladly stood before those women and on behalf of all men who had hurt them, voiced words like these: ‘I am so sorry. Would you forgive us?’” Then she said he “told them of their worth and prayed on his knees for them.”
In recent months, as several high-profile leaders stepped down because of sexual misconduct, Moore became more outspoken about the actions of many church leaders towards women. She spoke of a male theologian who looked at her and told her she was prettier than another well-known female Bible teacher. She has also remarked that “judgment begins in the house of God” and that recent revelations lead her to “believe that’s what’s happening.”
Moore also spoke up during the recent hearings about the allegations of sexual assault leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She said, “A lot of people feeling stripped bare today. Your kindness and compassion even toward matters you don’t fully understand could be a blanket to somebody today. It’s a cold world. Warm it up a little.” 
Moore reflected on Jones’ apology, noting how it brought a sense of healing to women at the event, which served women from the Navajo, Apache, Hopi, Ute, and other native American tribes. She said “it was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. We have done this several times in past events. Holy healing moments. 
﻿(Slayton, “Man from Beth Moore’s Worship Band Apologizes to Women on Behalf of All Men,” ChristianHeadlines Online, 10/9/18).
[TBC: The idea that an individual can apologize for the sins of others may be politically correct and stir the emotions, but is certainly not biblical. Ezekiel 18:20 tells us, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
﻿As Moore moves further into psychobabble, she correspondingly moves further away from Scripture and the hope of the Gospel. As Dave Hunt pointed out, these psychologically based attempts at reconciliation deny the basic fact that the Christian’s sins were laid upon Christ and paid for by Him; he has been born again by faith in Christ, “old things are passed away...all things are become new” (2 Cor:5:17). Let us therefore “go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works....” (Heb:6:1).]
***
“God +1 is a majority.”  Don’t worry…“be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first (the Great Apostasy), and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (see 2 Thessalonians 2).  Elijah felt all alone and terrified when he hid in the mountain cave from the assassins of Jezebel, but the LORD said unto him in 1 Kings 19:18, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”  And when Elisha’s servant was terrified at the huge armies of God’s enemies, saying “Alas, my master, how shall we do?,” Elisha answered, “Fear not: For they that be with us are more than be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”  See 2 Kings 6:15ff.

https://www.infowars.com/between-6000-and-10000-churches-in-the-u-s-are-dying-each-year-and-that-means-that-over-100-will-die-this-week/
“BETWEEN 6,000 AND 10,000 CHURCHES IN THE U.S. ARE DYING EACH YEAR” – AND THAT MEANS THAT OVER 100 WILL DIE THIS WEEK
America is littered with thousands upon thousands of church buildings that aren’t being used anymore. 
As you will see below, between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are dying in the United States every single year, and that means that more than 100 will die this week alone.  And of course thousands of others are on life support.  All over the country this weekend, small handfuls of people will gather in huge buildings which once boasted very large congregations.  At one time, America was widely considered to be “a Christian nation”, but that really isn’t true anymore.  As an excellent article in The Atlantic has noted, even though most Americans still consider themselves to be “Christian”, the numbers are telling us a very different story…
***
Is A.D.H.D. merely a handy subjective category to get kids genuinely pickled on mind-numbing drugs?  Sure, there are more extreme situations of enchantment, lack of development, immaturity, even brain and neurological damage, etc., but is the whole super-category just an easy way to handle difficult kids?  “Stone ‘em into complacency”?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/august-birthdays-adhd.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20181129&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=9&nlid=69381998emc%3Dedit_ty_20181129&ref=headline&te=1
The Link Between August Birthdays and A.D.H.D. 
A new study raises questions about age, maturity and overdiagnosis
The rate of diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among children has nearly doubled in the past two decades. Rates of A.D.H.D. diagnoses also vary considerably across states, with nearly three times as many children getting the diagnosis in Kentucky (where one in five children are said to have the condition) as in Nevada. More than 5 percent of all children in the United States now take an A.D.H.D. medication. These facts raise the question of whether the disease is being overdiagnosed.
Diagnosing A.D.H.D. is difficult. Unlike other childhood diseases — such as asthma, obesity and diabetes — the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. is inherently subjective and depends on the assessment of parents, school personnel and health care providers. For a child who is easily distracted, an assessment of normal, inattentive behavior by one health care provider could be a formal diagnosis of A.D.H.D. by another.
It turns out that although diagnosing A.D.H.D. requires a subjective interpretation of facts by physicians, the month in which a child is born can be a strong, objective predictor.
Most states have arbitrary cutoffs for kindergarten entry, such that children who do not reach a given age by a certain date are required to wait a year. In 18 states, children who will turn 5 before Sept. 1 can enter kindergarten in the year that they turn 5; children who will turn 5 after Sept. 1 must wait until the next year. So in states with Sept. 1 cutoffs, in any given class, August-born children will usually be the youngest and September-born children the oldest.

These arbitrary entry-age cutoffs have important implications for the diagnosis of A.D.H.D.  Ina a study pubished in The New England Journal of Medicine, we found that among several hundred thousand children who were born between 2007 and 2009 and followed until 2016, rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis and treatment were 34 percent higher among children born in August than among children born in September in states with a Sept. 1 school entry-age cutoff. No such difference was found among children in states with different cutoff dates. The effects were largest among boys.
We believe these findings reveal just how subjective the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. can be. In any given class, inattentive behavior among younger, August-born children may be perceived, in some instances, to reflect symptoms of A.D.H.D., rather than the relative immaturity that is biologically determined and to be expected among children who are nearly one year younger than September-born classmates.
The stakes of additional, potentially inappropriate diagnoses are high, particularly when diagnoses are accompanied by medical treatment, which has side effects. In cases where A.D.H.D. is appropriately diagnosed, we know that behavioral and medical treatments can improve concentration, school performance and other outcomes. And in these instances, the harms of medical treatments are, on average, outweighed by the benefits. But when the disease is improperly diagnosed, the clinical harms and dollar costs of treatment may not be met with commensurate benefits.
Unlike other diseases such as asthma and diabetes, whose diagnosis is more objective and is not based on peer-to-peer comparisons, the diagnosis of A.D.H.D. appears heavily influenced by how children behave in school relative to peers and how those differences in behavior are interpreted by school personnel, parents and ultimately, physicians. Indeed, some evidence suggests that teachers and other school personnel are more likely than physicians or parents to first suggest that a child may have A.D.H.D.
Our findings aren’t new, but they suggest a continuing problem. Several older studies, both within and outside the United States, analyze rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis among children born just before versus just after school entry-age cutoffs, similar in design to our study. Nearly all of these studies suggest that younger children within a grade are more likely to be diagnosed with A.D.H.D. than older children in the same grade. One study found that the relative age of a child in a class strongly affects teachers’ assessments of whether a child demonstrates A.D.H.D. symptoms but does not affect parents’ assessments, which suggests that many diagnoses may stem from teachers’ perceptions of students that are based on a child’s age relative to peers.

Our study, which uses recent data, tells us that the problem still exists and that it’s not small. Despite growing awareness that A.D.H.D. may be overdiagnosed and the fact that the medications used to treat it have serious side effects, something as arbitrary as the month a child is born still has a meaningful impact on the likelihood that the child is determined to have the condition.
At a minimum, physicians who frequently diagnose A.D.H.D. in children should be aware of these findings. A simple mental “adjustment” for whether a child is born in August may be sufficient to help physicians reduce overdiagnosis.
School personnel and parents should also be aware of how simple cognitive biases can creep into how important clinical decisions are made. Both our and previous findings suggest that parents of children who are young for their grade could reasonably question whether the initiation of medical treatment for A.D.H.D. should be delayed.
In his 2008 book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell describes the now well-known phenomenon that a disproportionate number of Canadian professional hockey players have birth dates in the beginning of the calendar year. This is explained by the Jan. 1 age eligibility cutoff for hockey programs in Canada, which leads to the oldest hockey players within an age-based division exceeding the age of the youngest players by nearly a year, conferring them a performance advantage. A similar phenomenon is true for A.D.H.D., where a child’s age relative to peers confers a markedly different rate of diagnosis and treatment, but the stakes are higher.

***
Strange Days in Paris as Macron’s Green Globalism Upsets 77% of the French, regardless of political association, over very practical reasons — fuel costs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/france-protests-yellow-vests.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20181129&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=11&nlid=69381998emc%3Dedit_ty_20181129&ref=headline&te=1
France Is Shaken by Protests No One Saw Coming
PARIS — Familiar Parisian images are back in the news: black smoke billowing from makeshift barricades on the Champs-Élysées; cobblestones hurled at the police by protesters; the Arc de Triomphe disappearing behind a cloud of tear gas. But this time, the images feature something new: The protesters are wearing yellow, high-visibility vests.
They aren’t longhaired students or militant trade unionists or even angry farmers. They are unaffiliated with a political party and they come from a variety of class backgrounds. Leaderless, they have gathered thanks to social media and they have pointedly called themselves Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Vests. They are shaking French politics to the core.
The movement began about a month ago, with groups of friends on Facebook complaining about an increase in diesel prices put in place by the government of President Emmanuel Macron to try to curb carbon emissions. Seemingly from nowhere, the disparate conversations converged on a date for action: Nov. 17. Hundreds of thousands would gather around the country to demonstrate against the fuel price hike, which they feel unfairly burdens the millions of people who live in small towns and the countryside, where they can’t get around by public transportation or electric scooters.

Their high-visibility yellow vests — which French drivers are legally required to keep in their vehicle to make sure they are seen on the side of the road if their car breaks down — identify them as car drivers rather than metro riders. But they also send a clear message: They want to be seen by their young president.

Almost 300,000 people took part in the Nov. 17 protests, blocking roads and highways. One protester was killed, run over by a panicked driver taking her child to the hospital and whose car had been set upon by angry people in yellow vests. The abnormally high number of casualties (600 people were injured) in a country that has long mastered the art of theatrical but safe demonstrations was disconcerting. A week later, the protesters gathered again, though in smaller numbers, with thousands coming from around the country to demonstrate in Paris.

It’s almost as if Mr. Macron, a centrist who rejects both right and left labels, has found in the Yellow Vests an opponent to his measure: a movement that refuses categorizing.

Seizing the chance to capitalize on a protest nobody saw coming, both Marine Le Pen on the extreme right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the radical left have tried to jump on the bandwagon, but to no avail. The protesters seem wholly uninterested in party politics. Their demands are as varied as they are vague. But they do have something in common with the extreme right and the radical left: a profound dislike of Mr. Macron.

France’s main center-right and center-left parties have largely collapsed, and Mr. Macron stepped into the void, offering a vision best described as nonpartisan centrism. But at the same time, he has put himself at the center of French politics, personalizing political life. The Yellow Vests are demonstrating exactly how dangerously unstable that could prove to be.

Fuel taxes triggered their anger, but the Yellow Vests intended in fact to vent their general frustration with politics, taxes, stagnating incomes and a president who they believe is out of touch with a majority of the people. … …

According to recent polling, 77 percent of French people support the movement. The Yellow Vests seem to be the face of a deep malaise in French society. They are held together by their common anger at the government in general and Mr. Macron in particular, but they come from different social classes and professional backgrounds. … …
***
(November 30)
“Trimmigrants” —The new marijuana slavery, an enchanted workplace, homelessness, wanderers — “Yeah, ‘peace and love.’ ”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/marijuana-trimmers-emerald-triangle.html?emc=edit_th_181130&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981130
The ‘Green Dimension’: Inside the Lives of California’s Marijuana Trimmers
Each autumn, young people flock to Northern California to find temporary work pruning cannabis bound for the state’s legal dispensaries, or black markets as far away as the East Coast.

COVELO, Calif. — Tucked into the forests of Mendocino County, accessible by a two-lane road that winds through hills of golden grass abundant with rattlesnakes is the small town of Covelo, where hundreds of seasonal workers converge every year, eager to help harvest the region’s most lucrative cash crop — marijuana.
These workers, known as “trimmigrants,” patiently cut off the shaggy leaves and brittle stems of marijuana buds, trimming each one into a compact green nugget primed for bongs and brownies.
“Some people don’t even know that a bud has to get trimmed up,” said Allen Kuehl, 27, as he sat snipping away at a pile of marijuana buds one recent morning. “Maybe they think there’s some perfect bush out there, but you’ve got to work at it. Buyers want single gram nugs that look like they could be poured out of a cereal box.”

Trimming weed is a tedious daily grind, requiring hours of manual labor. Once beautified, the buds are bound for California’s legal dispensaries, or smuggled to illicit markets as far away as the East Coast. Mr. Kuehl is among thousands of mostly young workers who spend several weeks each autumn with trays of marijuana on their laps, toiling away in Northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle, a trio of counties known for growing much of America’s cannabis.

“You just stand in front of the library and farmers show up asking if you’re looking for work,” said Julian, 28, an Argentine who did not want to be fully identified because he was working in the United States illegally. He had hitchhiked into Covelo five days earlier with a tent and a sleeping bag, and had already found a job trimming for around eight hours a day.
“I want to make $5,000, then I can be homeless anywhere in the world,” he said. “Maybe I’ll go surfing or head to Bali.”
But trimming weed is not as profitable as it once was. The legalization of recreational marijuana in California and other states across America has helped flood the market with ever cheaper supply, growers say. And as the legal risks of cultivating marijuana have declined, competition from both corporate and black market farms has increased. A decade ago, marijuana sold for around $2,000 a pound, but growers said they are now lucky to get $500, and that means there is less money to pay for trimming.

“More and more people are growing weed and driving prices into the ground,” said A.J. Cook, 27, who has traveled from nearby Chico to Covelo for seven seasons and has seen the going trimming rate drop to $125 from $250 per pound. “It’s got me thinking: am I trimming anymore for the money or for the lifestyle?”
Still, as trim scenes go, his work space was pretty cushy. Seated on a living room couch, he hunched over a bin of weed, dropping each manicured bud into a large plastic bag. Nearby, Mr. Kuehl was breaking down marijuana branches into smaller pieces and clipping away the leaves, his hands covered in surgical gloves. (He goes through about 10 pairs a day.) A fellow trimmer was stretching on a blue yoga mat, while a few dogs lazed in the morning sunshine. The room reeked of marijuana, which filled bags in the pantry and, in the garage next door, dozens of tote bins named for various strains like Lady Lemon, Jah’s Cookies, Afjazz and Thai blueberry.
Trimmers get paid by weight, so each morning, the race is on to prune as much marijuana as possible. Mr. Kuehl said he averages nearly two pounds a day — about nine hours of trimming — worth about $200. “You’ve got to commit to the chair,” said Mr. Kuehl, explaining how trimmers endure the day-in, day-out monotony from October until December, and possibly longer.

Sometimes, if they are lucky, trimmers reach a hypnotic state of focus while pruning the seemingly endless harvest of cannabis.
“We call it the ‘green dimension,’” said Kelly Zimmerlee, 27. “When you have the right weed, the right people, the right vibe, and bingo, you don’t think about anything else and just do your thing for hours.”

To stay energized — and sane — the farm’s trimmers maintain a steady diet of yerba mate tea, music, podcasts and audiobooks, including all 12 hours of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion” and the entire canon of Terence McKenna, the American philosopher who advocated the use of psychedelics plants.
And for those wondering: No, they don’t get high on the job. “I’m not a productive stoner,” Mr. Kuehl said.
Some trimmers grumble about “cherry pickers,” who select the largest cannabis buds for themselves, leaving the others with smaller specimens that won’t amount to as much weight. And don’t even think about blasting heavy metal. “You want to keep spirits high,” Mr. Kuehl said. “Otherwise you can have drama pretty quick if you’re trimming for 12 hours a day.”
The combination of marijuana and close quarters has occasionally burst into violence. Seven trimmers were charged with taking part in the brutal murder and robbery of a Mendicion cannabis farmer in 2016. In June, a New Hampshire man was found guilty of beating a fellow itinerant laborer to death at a Covelo marijuana farm, after a disagreement about the victim’s dog. … …
***
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain… (Isaiah 40:4).  And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven…(Luke 21:11).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/earthquake-seismic-waves-mayotte-madagascar-volcanic-activity-science-a8659236.html
Strange seismic waves that rippled around world leave scientists bewildered
’I don't think I've seen anything like it,' seismologist says
Just before 9.30am on Sunday 11 November, a series of unusual seismic pulses rippled around the world almost undetected.
The waves rang for over 20 minutes, emanating about 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte - a tiny island in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Africa.
From here, they reverberated across Africa, setting off geological sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
They crossed the Atlantic, and were picked up in Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away, the National Geographic reports.
Despite their huge range, the waves were apparently not felt by anybody. However, one person monitoring the US Geological Survey’s live stream of seismogram displays did notice the unusual waveform and posted it to Twitter, sparking the interest of other geologists and earthquake enthusiasts.
Twitter user @matarikipax posted the waveforms, describing it in the first instance as “a most odd and unusual seismic signal”. … …

***
(December 1)
7.0 Earthquake Hits Anchorage yesterday morning — Vast damage, road infrastructures cut and much more, but at first assessment no lives yet reported lost.  God is abundant in mercy!
(See story just above.  Could a “magma shift” or other mysterious tectonic activity in the Indian Ocean have triggered this Alaska quake?)

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/11/30/large-earthquake-strikes-southcentral-alaska/
7.0 earthquake, aftershocks strike Southcentral Alaska; damage reported across region
A 7.0 earthquake jolted Anchorage and the rest of Southcentral Alaska on Friday morning, cracking and collapsing roads and highways, damaging buildings, knocking out power and sending people scrambling outside and under furniture. The shaking left many homes a mess and aftershocks continued through the evening. … …
***
Brain-Wired to the Collective Consciousness of Global AI for “happiness”? (Collective Implications?)

https://gizmodo.com/scientists-propose-new-way-to-depression-with-brain-imp-1830745317
Scientists Propose New Way to Treat Depression With Brain Implants
 
***
A reasonably neutral report on the recent martyrdom of John Chau — Spirit or Flesh? Both? Hubris or Bravery? Sent or Just Went?  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”?  R.I.P.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/world/asia/john-chau-andaman-missionary.html?emc=edit_th_181201&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981201
John Chau Aced Missionary Boot Camp.  Reality Proved a Harsher Test.

***
—from Hal Lindsey’s newsletter of 30 November on the EU hypocrisy of defending / kowtowing to Islam amongst it…

(excerpt)…Jesus said that in the last days before His return, we would be hated in all the world because of His name. That means that those of us who follow Jesus Christ will be hated and persecuted and prosecuted because the world hates Him. Not us, but Him. So if we believe in Jesus and stay true to Jesus, then we know that hard, dangerous times are coming for us. 
So when it becomes illegal to speak the truth about a false religion, and illegal to speak the truth about a true religion, then you know that those hard, dangerous times are here. 
Get as close to God as you can get. 
And get ready! 
***
(December 2)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/01/christians-brink-extinction-middle-east-warns-archbishop-canterbury/
Christians on brink of extinction in Middle East, warns Archbishop of Canterbury
Christians who were the first founders of the church are on brink of “imminent extinction”, the Archbishop of Canterbury is warning.
Describing the “daily threat of murder” faced in the Middle East, the Most Reverend Justin Welby says Christians are experiencing “the worst situation since the Mongol invasions of the 13th Century”.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Archbishop Welby, the most senior clergyman in the Church of England, calls on the Government to take in more refugees.
It comes as figures have revealed just one in 400 Syrian refugees given asylum in the UK last year were Christians despite them being subjected to “horrendous persecution”. … …
***
“Aftershocks”? One has to wonder if this sometimes amounts to a euphemism for ongoing quakes.  Poor Alaskans, hit just as severe winter begins.  May many call on the Lord and be saved and strengthened.  Still no fatalities, Praise his Merciful Name!

http://news.trust.org/item/20181202005721-rzyxq
Aftershocks rattle cleanup efforts after powerful Alaskan earthquake
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Aftershocks from Friday's powerful Alaskan earthquake continued to pound the area around Anchorage on Saturday, as workers strove to patch up buckled roads and residents began cleaning up damage around their homes and businesses.
The 7.0 magnitude quake struck Friday morning about 8 miles (13 km) north of Anchorage, the state's largest city with 300,000 residents, disrupting rush-hour traffic and jamming telephone service. There were no reports of serious injuries. … …
***
France in Turmoil; Europe Threatened —  The French are known for only taking so much.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6449407/Fresh-violence-Paris-riot-police-use-tear-gas-batons.html
'This is the start of a revolution': Paris rioters steal police assault rifle, torch dozens of cars and vow to 'stay in the streets until Christmas' as fuel protests continue into the night and spread across France - and even to Holland
	•	'Yellow Vest' supporters staged fresh protests on the Champs-Elysees which leads to the Arc de Triomphe
	•	They vowed to continue rioting until Christmas after riot police used tear gas and water cannon to fight back
	•	Dozens of cars were torched, the Arc de Triomphe was graffitied and shops and houses were ransacked
	•	French President Emmanuel Macron promised that protesters would be 'held responsible for their acts' 
	•	It comes a week after rioters brought chaos to Paris in a movement against fuel prices and high living costs 
The centre of Paris was on lockdown tonight after masked protesters stole an assault rifle from police, clashed with riot squads and set fire to cars and Christmas trees on the Champs-Elysees in furious demonstrations against the French government.
Protesters said today's actions were 'the start of a revolution' that would eclipse the mass strikes and occupation of universities and factories in1968 when the country was on the cusp of civil war.
Fires and clouds of tear gas covered the French capital from early morning until late in the evening, in some of the worst violence ever seen in the French capital as more than 5,000 demonstrators brought chaos to Paris for the second week running. … …
***
George H.W. passes at 94. He and Barbara leave a testimony of a beautiful marriage and loving family. 
Hopefully, whatever acts of childish foolishness he and his son committed with the Skull and Bones Secret Society were forgiven and are cleansed by their professions of Christian Faith and Repentance.  
R.I.P.
***

*** *** ***

“His Kingdom is For Ever.”

—Martin Luther—

**************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

November 25  Happy Thanksgiving Week!  “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with THANKSGIVING,” said Paul to the Colossians in 4:2.

Saints, 

Want Truth in an Age of Disinformation?  (Consider even the word “disinformation”; is it not a polite euphemism —literally, the making of “a good word” to cover a bad meaning— for what is actually just more commonly called a LIE?)  Yes, want Truth in an Age of Lies?  Seek God in the manner that He prescribes — by Spirit and by Truth, John 4:23-24.  God’s Word of Truth, the Scriptures are True and Utterly Authoritative.  He Himself protects them, see 2 Peter 1:20-21 and many other interrelated authentications of the Word in the Word Itself, for examples, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16, all of Psalm 119 and on and on.  But think not that the devil does not also know the Word, and he will twist and tempt, not only to his own ultimate destruction but to ours also: (“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Peter 5:8).  Remember, he even played theologian against God Himself FROM way back in the Garden with an innocent Adam and Eve (“Hath God said…?”) TO even taking on the Son of God Himself, God come in the Flesh, in the Temptations in the Wilderness, arguing from the Word(!), Matthew 4:1-11.  

What shall we do then?  We must also seek Truth by the Spirit, the very Presence of God given us and indwelling in us after we have been regenerated, converted, “born again.”  The Spirit bids us behave like Jesus, giving out his Love, loving the Truth, not behaving like the world but turning the other cheek, continuing in the Faith, etc.  He tells us in 1 John 2:27 that this Power in us is so strong that we have an innate knowledge and conviction of Truth by the indwelling Holy Spirit, so strong that its anointing teaches us even above and beyond our usual need for teachers!  So, our job is not impossible but is a matter of continual seeking and finding as we face issue after issue in this difficult life.  Paul said, with tears, “…I have not shunned to declare unto you with tears all (the whole) counsel of God,” knowing what the Ephesians would face after his departure, see Acts 20:27-32.  God will sustain us by His Spirit and His Word.  Our job is to apply ourselves daily In this life to walking in the Truth, and to not be taken aside by false doctrines, interpretations of men (erring dogmas) and sectarians (denominationalists, agenda-driven TV preachers, etc.), the suggestions and temptations of the devil himself, etc., etc., etc.

The Order is, of course, far Too Tall for us, but our Heavenly Father is ever ready to sustain us…if we will simply keep our faces turned toward Him… “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our Faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross…” (Heb. 12:2).

I did a little study on how to study and seek the Word accurately some years ago.  It is not anything “new” as “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9), but was my compilation into a few checks and balances for searching the Word.  I came up with seven points but that also is not meant to be a spiritual number here but just a practical short list of ways and means.  The study is parked on “the other side” of the New Testament Fellowship website (ntfellowship.net) from where these blogs are parked.  It is titled, “Accurate Bible Study, How to do it.”  At the Home Page, click on the left box, “Teachings, Scripture Studies…etc.” and scroll down to the study. I trust it will be helpful.  Let us diligently keep ourselves in the Truth and in the Love of the Truth.  Maranatha: The Lord is coming, the Lord is at hand.

***

The Week —  Remember, these are just reports from the world’s media; we cannot be certain of their veracity, but we can watch the Signs of the Times in the Light of the Word.

(November 25)
Will American Democracy Survive the Disinformation Age?  Is Everything a Lie? Will we survive another election?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/us/politics/florida-recount-voter-fraud.html?emc=edit_th_181119&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981119
Vote-Stealing Battle in Florida Portends More Distrust in System for 2020
The bitter rhetoric around the recount in Florida’s governor and Senate races are setting the stage for an even more contentious re-election campaign for President Trump in 2020.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The chaotic images out of Florida’s election recount last week — the brigade of Washington lawyers, the déjà vu meltdown of the tallying in Broward County, the vitriolic charges and countercharges — have prompted flashbacks among the electorate of the 2000 presidential election.Yet to the combatants in both parties fighting over impossibly tight races for governor and senate, the 2018 election was less about revisiting past political traumas than about setting the stage for the bitter 2020 campaign ahead. The legal and political skirmishing in the state, Republicans and Democrats say, has been an ominous dry run for messaging and tactics about fraud and vote-stealing that threaten to further undermine confidence in the electoral system. … …
***

God is judging and will judge the present day Sodom —  First of all, the very actions themselves are judgments — “whose glory (pride) is in their shame” (Philippians 3:19), but their destructions also follow close behind (Romans 1:18ff)…

Preying on innocents —
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6401593/Whistleblower-teacher-makes-shocking-claim-autistic.html
School has SEVENTEEN children changing gender as teacher says vulnerable pupils are being 'tricked' into believing they are the wrong sex
	•	The Mail On Sunday reveals that 17 pupils are in the process of changing gender
	•	Most of children undergoing transformation are autistic according to teacher 
	•	This means that 150 autistic teenagers were issued with puberty blocker drugs
An astonishing 17 pupils at a single British school are in the process of changing gender, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Most of the youngsters undergoing the transformation are autistic, according to a teacher there, who said vulnerable children with mental health problems were being ‘tricked’ into believing they are the wrong sex.
The whistleblower says few of the transgender children are suffering from gender dysphoria – the medical term for someone who feels they were born in the wrong body – but are just easily influenced, latching on to the mistaken belief they are the wrong sex as a way of coping with the problems caused by autism. … ….

Communist China more righteous than the decadent West?
https://www.france24.com/en/20181119-chinese-homoerotic-writer-gets-10-year-jail-term
Chinese homoerotic writer gets 10 year jail term
BEIJING (AFP) - A female Chinese novelist has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for writing and distributing books containing explicit descriptions of gay male sex, state-run media said Monday, a punishment that drew criticism for its severity.

Sodomic Slaughter-Pit of fools?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7773652/world-largest-orgy-sex-party-colorado-polyamorous-derrier/
Polyamorous events planner reveals ambition to smash record for world’s largest ORGY … by having 1,000 people at marathon sex party

***
Are Our minds being taken over by smart-aleck AI text editors?  …who predict for us what we are going to write and save us the time by entering it for our approval? Don’t know about you, but I don’t like it!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/18/technology/artificial-intelligence-language.html?emc=edit_th_181119&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981119
Finally, a Machine That Can Finish Your Sentence
Completing someone else’s thought is not an easy trick for A.I. But new systems are starting to crack the code of natural language.
***
(November 20)
Like Harvesting Grapes?  Mass/Multiple Murders Begin to Cluster Daily?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-police-shots-fired-near-hospital-multiple-victims-215141270.html
Chicago hospital shooting claims 3 lives; gunman also dead
CHICAGO (AP) — A gunman opened fire Monday at a Chicago hospital, killing a police officer and two hospital employees in an attack that began with a domestic dispute and exploded into a firefight with law enforcement inside the medical center. The suspect was also dead, authorities said. … …

Murder after multiple, random-victims sexual assaults by an unknown and sudden intruder into a Catholic bookstore—
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/gunman-on-the-loose-after-fatal-shooting-sexual-assault-at/article_feccbdbd-7975-57b5-beae-3e6346c47dc0.html
Gunman on the loose after fatal shooting, sexual assault at Catholic Supply store in St. Louis County
excerpt: Officers were first brought to the scene by a 911 caller who reported that the shooter went inside the store and ordered women inside to strip at gunpoint, and sexually assaulted several of them before shooting one of them in the head. McGuire said at least one sexual assault had occurred inside the store, but did not know how many victims there had been. … …

An as yet unknown shooter fires into a group of homeless and fire is also returned—
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/1-dead-4-injured-after-downtown-denver-shooting/ar-BBPTta7?li=BBnb7Kz
1 dead, 4 injured after downtown Denver shooting
DENVER — One person was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting on a downtown Denver street Monday, but it was unclear what caused the violence and no one had been arrested, authorities said. The shooting occurred in a neighborhood of new apartment buildings, restaurants and bars near the Colorado Rockies' stadium just as the evening rush hour was getting underway.
Police spokesman Doug Schepman said investigators did not know whether more than one shooter was involved and had no descriptions of any suspects.
A witness told The Denver Post he saw a man holding a handgun in both hands fire into a group of indigent people, and someone in the group fired back. … …

***
Will God mock a pagan “thanksgiving”?  We will know by the time this week’s blog issue publishes!

https://nypost.com/2018/11/19/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-could-be-a-frigid-nightmare/
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade could be a frigid nightmare
This holiday forecast blows!
Thanksgiving paradegoers should bundle up for the coldest temperatures in 20 years — and brace for powerful winds that threaten to ground dazzling giant balloons.
It’s expected to plunge into the low 20s in Manhattan — but it will feel more like the teens — in the coldest projected Thanksgiving on record since 1996, meteorologists told The Post.
“It’s going to be brutal out there,” said Accuweather senior meteorologist Dave Dombek. “It’s going to be cold. Very, very cold.”
He added, “If things stay as is, this will be the third-coldest Thanksgiving in New York history” — with the most frigid reaching a low of 19 degrees in 1901.
Sustained wind could reach up to 25 mph and gusts could blow up to 35 mph, which would ground beloved balloons such as Charlie Brown, the Grinch and SpongeBob SquarePants. … …
***
Though history proves we cannot utterly mitigate xenophobia and ethnic hatreds, we are duty bound to work at peace.  The Antichrist will insist on “one world order,” but the end of his effort will be Armageddon.
Not till the Prince of Peace reigns will there be healing for the nations, Revelation 22:2.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/world/europe/mostar-bosnia-ethnic-divisions-nationalism.html?emc=edit_th_181120&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981120
In Bosnia, Entrenched Ethnic Divisions Are a Warning to the World
MOSTAR, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When a fire breaks out in the Bosnian city of Mostar, Sabit Golos, a veteran firefighter, knows that he does not have to worry unless the flames take hold on the Muslim side of what, from 1992 until 1994, was the front line in a vicious ethnic conflict.
That is because Mostar, though long at peace, has two separate fire brigades, one made up mostly of Muslims like Mr. Golos, who are responsible for putting out fires on the east side of the old front line and a second one staffed by Catholic Croats who douse flames on the other side.
The line vanished long ago as a boundary between warring communities and does not officially exist. But it lives on in the mind, an emblem of the ethnonationalist fissures that paralyze Mostar and the whole of Bosnia.
As Europe and the United States struggle with the rise of ethnic nationalism as a divisive force, Bosnia’s divisions offer a dark lesson in how, once cleaved apart by fear and fighting, communities can stay splintered long after many people have forgotten what it was that pushed them apart.

The entrenched disunion here was reflected in recent national elections, marked by nationalist rhetoric and open questioning of Bosnia’s continued existence as a state.
“Europe is worried these days about the rise of the far right, but this place was way ahead of the curve in showing how dangerous and enduring ethno-nationalism can be,” said Tim Clancy, an American resident of Bosnia who worked in Mostar throughout the war helping victims of the fighting.
Both of Mostar’s fire brigades are part of the same municipal fire service — just as Mostar’s two garbage collection companies, two hospitals, two electricity companies, two bus stations, two popular nightclubs and two soccer teams all technically serve the same city. But they are in reality barricaded behind the zigzagging line drawn in blood a quarter of a century ago, during Europe’s worst conflict since World War II. … …
***
(November 20 / afternoon)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6410061/Facebook-Instagram-CRASHED.html
Facebook and Instagram have CRASHED around the world less than a day after Messenger went down
	•	Users around the world are having issues accessing both platforms
	•	Thousands of people have complained they are unable to access their accounts
	•	The issue is affecting users in the US, UK, Europe and parts of Australia  
	•	Facebook users reported yesterday they were unable to access Messenger
Facebook and Instagram have both been hit by severe outages.
Users on both popular platforms have been left unable to load the sites and thousands of people are unable to access their accounts.
The global outage has affected users in the US, UK, mainland Europe as well as parts of Australia and South America.
Issues were first reported at around 1pm GMT (8am ET) and users are still having trouble getting on the sites several hours later. … …

***
Sure, it’s tabloid fare, but with CRISP-Cas9 “kitchen table genetic engineering” kits available cheap to amateur splicers, not to mention Dr. Moreau style secret labs unchecked by ethical concerns, WHAT (?! ) may be getting loose? What do the present powers of darkness suggest and attempt in these days of the return of Nephilim Science, “as it was in the days of Noah,” that brought on the judgment of God in the Flood? (Then the Judgment was water; this time it will be fire.)

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/farmers-goat-gives-birth-half-13616623
Farmer’s goat gives birth to ‘half-pig half-human’ creature sparking curse fears
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES - The unusual creature was born by cesarean section on a farm in the Philippines earlier this month but locals are worried it's a cursed 'mutant devil'
***
(November 21)
Darkness Slaughters Its Own Again —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/world/asia/afghanistan-wedding-hall-bombing.html?emc=edit_th_181121&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981121
At Least 55 Killed in Bombing of Afghan Religious Gathering
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/world/asia/afghanistan-wedding-hall-bombing.html?emc=edit_th_181121&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981121
KABUL, Afghanistan — The bombing of a crowded religious gathering in Kabul on Tuesday killed at least 55 people, Afghan officials said.
Wahid Majrooh, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said that in addition to those who were killed, at least 96 people were wounded in an explosion at the Uranus Wedding Palace, near Kabul’s international airport, and that officials were still trying to determine the exact toll. He added that 24 of the wounded were in critical condition.
Najib Danish, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, called it a suicide bombing, and confirmed the death toll.
Witnesses said there were a thousand people inside the hall when the explosion took place. They included clerics and religious scholars along with others who had gathered to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, a national holiday in Afghanistan.
President Ashraf Ghani called the attack “a crime against Islam and humanity” and declared a national day of mourning on Wednesday. … …
***
“The New California,” permanently altered, more to come? (“The New Abnormal,” Gov. Jerry Brown called it.  I have in the past seen him full of political arrogance, but now he seems contrite and broken.  May God save him, for “…a broken spirit and a contrite heart God will not despise,” Ps. 51.)
NYTIMES QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"I think we are going to have a lot of elderly people who were wiped off the face of the earth because they were sleeping."
 THOMAS D. ALLMAN, the sheriff of Mendocino County, Calif., who said he expected the toll of the Camp Fire, in which nearly 700 people are still missing, to keep growing in the weeks and months to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/us/missing-in-california.html?emc=edit_th_181121&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981121
On the California Wildfire Missing List, Name After Name After Name
CHICO, Calif. — There’s a desperate plea on the message board for Sheila Santos, who went missing after wildfires ripped through her home: “Call your kids.”
There are hundreds of other names posted outside the shelter for fire evacuees at a church in Chico, the nearest city to the front lines of the still-roaring fire. There’s Rosemary Poushard, William Goulridge and Vernice Regan, all of whom remain on the official missing list.
“I’ve seen grown men walk up to that board and just start to cry,” said Tena Quackenbush, 51, a Red Cross volunteer from Black River Falls, Wis. “There’s something about seeing all the names and the way these people might have been consumed by fire that just brings the tragedy home.”
The Camp Fire, 75 percent contained as of Tuesday morning, has burned through more than 152,000 acres, killing at least 81 people to date. But the true scale of the human catastrophe will be clear only months down the line, once search crews finish turning through thousands of burned homes and businesses, some of which are now mere ash. Experts fear that the final number of fatalities could reach well into the hundreds and that the remains of some will never be found.
T“I know it sounds horrible,” said Sheriff Kory L. Honea of Butte County, whose office is leading the search, “but in some cases the remains that we are looking for have been reduced to bone fragments.”
For now, 870 people are listed as missing by the sheriff’s office, a shocking and fluctuating number that underscores the chaos sown by the blaze. The number peaked at more than 1,200 over the weekend and was revised as survivors were located.
So many names remain. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/business/california-fires-insurance.html?emc=edit_th_181121&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981121
How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable

California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims.
It hasn’t gotten any better this year. The Mendocino Complex Fire in August was the biggest in state history, and the Camp Fire that wiped out the town of Paradise is the deadliest. It had destroyed nearly 12,000 homes as of Monday morning.
This has put pressure on property insurers, some of which have been declining to renew homeowners’ policies in fire-prone areas. When the houses that burned this year are rebuilt, their owners may find that no one is writing insurance there — at least not at affordable prices.
“We’re not in a crisis yet, but all of the trends are in a bad direction,” said Dave Jones, who is completing his eighth and final year as California’s insurance commissioner. “We’re slowly marching toward a world that’s uninsurable.” …  …
***
Wow!  Tiny measure-weight for weighing out silver for a Temple Tax FOR THE FIRST TEMPLE, THE ONE BUILT BY SOLOMON, is found!
https://www.timesofisrael.com/straight-from-the-bible-tiny-first-temple-stone-weight-unearthed-in-jerusalem/
Straight from the Bible: Tiny First Temple stone weight unearthed in Jerusalem
Volunteer at City of David sifting project finds rare ‘beka’ measure, used by pilgrims paying half-shekel tax before ascending to Temple Mount, in dirt from dig near Western Wall

***
(November 22)
If this man was, according to some reports, trying to open a Christian witness to this lost tribe (even if in some error or presumption), may the Lord yet use his martyrdom to do so.  Remember Jim Elliott and his fellows who died similarly trying to bring testimony to Amazon tribes years ago.  Their martyrdom resounds with salvation even to this day.  God save.  The world worships some idea of leaving natives to be what they are, but they still die in the misery of their sins and need salvation more than some romanticized ideal of anthropological purity.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-tourist-killed-arrow-shooting-indian-tribe-073604724.html
Isolated Indian tribe kill American intruder
excerpt:  Some Indian media suggested that Chau was a missionary seeking to convert the islanders to Christianity but a local policeman told the News Minute website this was inaccurate.
***
(November 23)
Alabama Mall Murder over Black Friday —  The world goes stark, raving mad?  …over the sale of mercantile junk? …over the heady madness and charged atmosphere of mall holiday sales?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6420725/1-teen-dead-2-injured-Alabama-mall-shooting.html
Black Friday shoppers flee in horror as gunman, 21, is killed by police after he shot a 12-year-old girl and 18-year-old boy at Alabama mall
	•	Fight between two young men led to one of them opening fire at Alabama mall
	•	The shooting happened at about 9.30pm at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover
	•	A 12-year-old girl shopping at the mall was also shot and had to undergo surgery
	•	The shooter was shot dead by police and an 18-year-old is in a serious condition 
	•	
(November 24 update:  Police now think they shot the wrong man.  Protests erupt.)
***
(November 24)
As someone well beyond the age of pop-idols, I couldn’t pick Justin Bieber out of a line-up, but many thousands of teens are moved by his fame.  Nor do I know much about Hillsong Church, and it may tout some megachurch heresies.  I don’t know.  But when someone claims Jesus as Lord, we must pray that they will be confirmed in the faith of Jesus of Nazareth as revealed in the Scriptures, and that they and their admirers will be brought to Him and not some antichrist affectation merely using his Name.  BUT, THERE IS POWER IN HIS NAME, and we commit this young man and his new wife to the Lord’s care, also “Jake,” the boy character of the original “Two and a Half Men,” who professed faith via The Seventh Day Adventists and later announced he was going to follow on with Jesus without their structure.  God save and keep!  Not many rich and famous follow the Lord, but when some few will, and we are given insight to lift them up before Him, let us so do.  Not long ago, and quite by surprise, I was given the task and opportunity to witness to a young and blooming Hollywood starlet for a couple of hours.  Though enamored with glitter and budding success, her heart was hungry for truth, and yet she bravely faced many trials; Lord save her!  God help us to be ever-ready, “in season and out” to share our Lord with whomever he puts beside us.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/married-man-justin-bieber-says-wants-more-jesus-212655809.html
'Married man' Justin Bieber says wants to be more like Jesus
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Justin Bieber marked his first Thanksgiving as a married man, saying that "love isn't always easy" but adding he was trying, like Jesus Christ, to be more patient and selfless.The Canadian pop singer, 24, who married model Hailey Baldwin in a hush-hush civil ceremony in September, told his 102 million Instagram followers that Thursday's U.S. Thanksgiving holiday was the first he had hosted.
"First thanksgiving as a married man, first time hosting thanksgiving," Bieber wrote in a posting on Friday.
"Relationships are hard and love isn't always easy but thank you Jesus for showing me how! Every day is a learning process, trying to be more like him, patient, kind, selfless, boy I got a long way! But gods grace is sufficient!" he added.
Bieber and Baldwin both attend the evangelical Hillsong Church, which was founded in Australia in 1983 and now has branches worldwide with a big youth following.
Bieber, who found fame as a baby-faced 15 year-old, and Baldwin first unofficially confirmed their marriage in comments on social media last week when the "Sorry" singer called Baldwin "my wife" and the model changed her Instagram name to Hailey Bieber. … …

***
“Let us in!  Let us in!”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-migrants-push-us-mexico-border-bridge-221000657.html
Migrants defy Trump at Mexico border as US forces flex muscle
Tijuana (Mexico) (AFP) - Hundreds of Central American migrants staged a boisterous demonstration on the US Mexico border Thursday, screaming for President Donald Trump to let them in as US soldiers and riot police put on a menacing show of force.
The increased tension over the presence of a thousands-strong migrant caravan came as Trump marked Thanksgiving Day by threatening to close the border if he thinks Mexico has lost control of it.
Vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the busy San Ysidro crossing came to a halt for 40 minutes as dozens of US police wearing helmets and holding rifles formed a line facing the Mexican side of the frontier. Separately, riot police rehearsed deployment movements. US Customs and Border Protection called all of this a "large-scale readiness exercise." … …
***
Robot Overlords will be evil taskmasters indeed, requiring machinelike performance from humans.  AI will not have very good mercy algorithms —  It has started.

https://www.rt.com/news/444678-amazon-black-friday-protests/
‘Electric shocks & broken bones’: Amazon workers to protest ‘inhuman’ conditions on Black Friday
Amazon warehouse workers are set to protest ‘inhuman’ working conditions in planned demonstrations across Europe on Black Friday.
Hundreds of Amazon employees are working with the British trade union GMB and planning to gather outside five of the website’s fulfillment centers on Friday. Meanwhile, in Italy and Spain, a 24-hour strike is planned.
The GMB reported last year that ambulances were called to Amazon warehouses in an incredible 600 times in the last three years for incidents including electric shocks, exhaustion, chest pains, major trauma — and on three occasions even pregnancy-related issues. "At a similar sized supermarket distribution warehouse a few miles away, there were just eight call outs during the same period," the GMB said at the time.
The GMB gathered disturbing statements from Amazon employees in advance of the protests.
One pregnant woman reported that she is forced to “stand 10 hours without a chair” and told to work hard, despite her superiors knowing she is pregnant. Another described Amazon as “an awful place to work” where people “can't breath or voice an opinion” and “feel like a trapped animal with lack of support and respect."
The GMB reported last year that ambulances were called to Amazon warehouses in an incredible 600 times in the last three years for incidents including electric shocks, exhaustion, chest pains, major trauma — and on three occasions even pregnancy-related issues. "At a similar sized supermarket distribution warehouse a few miles away, there were just eight call outs during the same period," the GMB said at the time.
The GMB gathered disturbing statements from Amazon employees in advance of the protests.
One pregnant woman reported that she is forced to “stand 10 hours without a chair” and told to work hard, despite her superiors knowing she is pregnant. Another described Amazon as “an awful place to work” where people “can't breath or voice an opinion” and “feel like a trapped animal with lack of support and respect." … …
***
Big Brother forces Uighur masses to conform, moving a million stooges into their homes.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-uighur-muslim-people-move-homes-xinjiang-china-religion-a8648561.html
One million Chinese people 'move into Muslim homes to report on Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs'
Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs.
Sent to homes in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government, American anthropologist Darren Byler said they were tasked with watching for signs that their hosts’ attachment to Islam might be “extreme”.    
The informants, who describe themselves as "relatives" of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down. … …

***

In long liberalized Sweden, cash is out, microchips are in, and you may soon not even be able to use a pay toilet without “the mark” of the microchip —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/business/sweden-cashless-society.html?emc=edit_th_181124&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981124
Sweden’s Push to Get Rid of Cash Has Some Saying, ‘Not So Fast’
Few countries have been moving toward a cashless society as fast as Sweden. But cash is being squeezed out so quickly — with half the nation’s retailers predicting they will stop accepting bills before 2025 — that the government is recalculating the societal costs of a cash-free future.
The financial authorities, who once embraced the trend, are asking banks to keep peddling notes and coins until the government can figure out what going cash-free means for young and old consumers. The central bank, which predicts cash may fade from Sweden, is testing a digital currency — an e-krona — to keep firm control of the money supply. Lawmakers are exploring the fate of online payments and bank accounts if an electrical grid fails or servers are thwarted by power failures, hackers or even war.
“When you are where we are, it would be wrong to sit back with our arms crossed, doing nothing, and then just take note of the fact that cash has disappeared,” said Stefan Ingves, the governor of Sweden’s central bank, known as the Riksbank. “You can’t turn back time, but you do have to find a way to deal with change.”
Ask most people in Sweden how often they pay with cash, and the answer is “almost never.” A fifth of Swedes, in a country of 10 million people, do not use automated teller machines anymore. More than 4,000 Swedes have implanted microchips  in their hands, allowing them to pay for rail travel and food, or enter keyless offices, with a wave. Restaurants, buses, parking lots and even pay toilets depend on clicks rather than cash. … …
***
A New French Revolution as French Citizens turn on Macron’s socialist / oneworld / greenism over gas taxes and increases?!
https://www.apnews.com/d3033b920af449b594e66b51890b517b
French protesters angry over fuel taxes clash with police

PARIS (AP) — French police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators in Paris on Saturday, as thousands gathered in the capital and beyond and staged road blockades to vent anger against rising fuel taxes.
Thousands of police were deployed nationwide to contain the eighth day of deadly demonstrations that started as protests against tax but morphed into a rebuke of President Emmanuel Macron and the perceived elitism of France’s ruling class. Two people have been killed since Nov. 17 in protest-related tragedies.
Tense clashes on the Champs-Elysees that ended by dusk Saturday saw police face off with demonstrators who burned plywood, wielded placards reading “Death to Taxes” and upturned a large vehicle.
At least 19 people, including four police officers, were slightly hurt and one person had more serious injuries in the day of unrest in Paris, according to police.
Macron responded in a strongly worded tweet: “Shame on those who attacked (police). Shame on those who were violent against other citizens ... No place for this violence in the Republic.”
Police said that dozens of protesters were detained for “throwing projectiles,” among other acts. By nightfall the Champs-Elysees was smoldering and in the Place de la Madeleine, burned scooters lay on the sidewalk like blackened shells.
“It’s going to trigger a civil war and me, like most other citizens, we’re all ready,” said Benjamin Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester from Chartres.
“They take everything from us. They steal everything from us,” said 21-year-old Laura Cordonnier.
The famed avenue was speckled with plumes of smoke and neon — owing to the color of the vests the self-styled “yellow jacket” protesters don. French drivers are required to keep neon security vests in their vehicles.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that 8,000 protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees at the demonstration’s peak and there were nearly 106,000 protesters and 130 arrests in total nationwide.
Castaner denounced protesters from the far-right whom he called “rebellious,” as he accused National Assembly leader Marine Le Pen of encouraging them.
But the Interior Ministry played down the scale of Saturday’s demonstrations by highlighting that up to 280,000 people took part in last Saturday’s protest.
The unrest is proving a major challenge for embattled Macron, who’s suffering in the polls.

***
(November 25)
Backtracing DNA leads researchers closer to the story of Adam and Eve and the Creation, and after that the Flood, but atheism still distorts the timeline.  What further wonders will God show again to Man to save him before the Judgment comes full?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6424407/Every-person-spawned-single-pair-adults-living-200-000-years-ago-scientists-claim.html
All humans are descended from just TWO people and a catastrophic event almost wiped out ALL species 100,000 years ago, scientists claim
	•	Genetic 'bar codes' of five million animals from different species were surveyed
	•	The research deduced that humans and animals sprang from single pair 
	•	This happened after a catastrophic event a long time after the last ice age 

All modern humans descended from a solitary pair who lived 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, scientists say.
Scientists surveyed the genetic 'bar codes' of five million animals - including humans - from 100,000 different species and deduced that we sprang from a single pair of adults after a catastrophic event almost wiped out the human race. 
These bar codes, or snippets of DNA that reside outside the nuclei of living cells, suggest that it's not just people who came from a single pair of beings, but nine out of every 10 animal species, too
Stoeckle and Thaler, the scientists who headed the study, concluded that ninety percent of all animal species alive today come from parents that all began giving birth at roughly the same time, less than 250 thousand years ago - throwing into doubt the patterns of human evolution. … …
***
*** *** ***

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Our Lord, Christ Jesus in John’s Gospel, 14:6

Said He also, in concluding a major teaching on the End of Age and His Return:
“What I say unto you I say unto all (that’s us!), watch.”
Mark 13:37

******************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

November 18

Saints, 

“Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”  2 Corinthians 10:5.  
What an astounding and amazing command to us, and how utterly impossible even to approach without the most absolute mercy and grace poured out on us, but it is our high calling.  
In these times, we must press in with all that we have and all that we are, and yet Christ alone holds us up as He must with Peter when he walked, briefly, on water before the situation frightened the faith out of him, and oftentimes thereafter.  
Lord Jesus, save us, keep us in your Salvation, and help us to be about your business of saving others.

***

The Week —

(November 12)
Macron commits an utter oxymoron, a nonsense statement, in saying nationalism is against patriotism!  I defend President Trump on this one.  Of course, nations should commit the ideal and love one another as Christian nations and merciful nations—and the U.S. in our history has done much of that, the Marshall Plan for instance and many, many other acts of charity and rescue.  Of course, nations should not use “nationalism” as a ruse to go forth and conquer, but patriotism in its literal meaning is love for one’s fatherland (father > pater > patria > patriot)!  Macron seems to want a “patriotism” to a murky globalism and to the spirit of Antichrist.  Hell will be the end of that and to hell with that semantic!  What an idiot of an oxymoron!  Nonsense!  Patriotism is not fascism; it is love of one’s country and this is approvable and even part of a Christian’s duty to love one’s brothers and one’s neighbors in whichever country one is in!  In the right spirit, patriotism and nationalism are one and the same thing.  Repent, Monsieur Macron, and don’t be a stooge for the spirit of Antichrist!

https://apnews.com/5d0ab53b6d6e4feeae232ff45db83a97
In remembering WWI, world warned of resurging ‘old demons’
PARIS (AP) — World leaders with the power to make war but a duty to preserve peace solemnly marked the end of World War I’s slaughter 100 years ago at commemorations Sunday that drove home the message “never again” but also exposed the globe’s new political fault lines.
As Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and dozens of other heads of state and government listened in silence, French President Emmanuel Macron used the occasion, as its host, to sound a powerful and sobering warning about the fragility of peace and the dangers of nationalism and of nations that put themselves first, above the collective good.
“The old demons are rising again, ready to complete their task of chaos and of death,” Macron said.
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” he said. “In saying ‘Our interests first, whatever happens to the others,’ you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it live, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: Its moral values.”… …(editor: oxymoron, “semantic adjustment” emphasized .  Macron: Rewriting morality and reality to make it say what he wants it to?)
***
Chipping Surges — Many Concerned —  Do Not Take the Mark of The Beast!  Along with the loss of whatever Free Will remains, it will guarantee Hell.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/11/alarm-over-talks-to-implant-uk-employees-with-microchips
Alarm over talks to implant UK employees with microchips
Britain’s biggest employer organisation and main trade union body have sounded the alarm over the prospect of British companies implanting staff with microchips to improve security. … …
***
Mexico’s own immigration officials recognize that the present caravans are but “the tip of the iceberg.”  Huge global migrations, while perhaps justified, will upset and are upsetting the present world order of nations.  The political devil Machiavelli illustrated the principles of antichrist in saying (paraphrase), “…to take over, first upset the present order (create chaos and anarchy), and then control where things land…”  The devil is as happy to slaughter migrant hordes as he is to compel and overthrow nations.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sd-me-mexico-immigration-20181111-story.html
Mexico reshaping approach to Central American migrants as caravans push north
The caravans of Central Americans currently traveling northward through Mexico are but the “tip of the iceberg” of a massive and unseen flow of migrants at Mexico’s southern border from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, said a high-ranking appointee in the incoming administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“The caravans are not the problem,” said Tonatiuh Guillén López, who will take over as head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute, known as INAMI, when the new administration takes office on Dec. 1. “The issue is the movements we do not see, those who are not in the caravan, that is the big issue.” … …

***
Stirring the perennial hornet’s nest again?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-raid.html?emc=edit_th_181112&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981112
Deadly Gaza Raid by Israel Threatens Nascent Cease-Fire
JERUSALEM — A covert Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip apparently went bad on Sunday, leaving at least seven Palestinians dead, including one senior Hamas military commander, and puncturing a nascent cease-fire with a flurry of airstrikes and rocket fire.
An Israeli lieutenant colonel was killed and another officer was wounded in the action near Khan Younis, the first known Israeli ground incursion into Gaza since Operation Protective Edge, in July 2014, set off a seven-week war.
The impetus for the Israeli operation and its nature were unclear. Reports in the Israeli news media generally described it as an intelligence mission that went awry.
Palestinian militants responded with waves of rockets aimed at Israeli communities near Gaza, and Israeli aircraft pounded targets in Gaza for a time. With sirens going off repeatedly in the Gaza periphery, Israel ordered its citizens there to remain close to air-raid shelters and schools were closed on Monday. … …

***
For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. 
Proverbs 28:2

***
(November 13)

Could it be that the whole “Russian Disinformation” episode is more a matter of these supercharged times than anything new?  Surely, common sense tells us that all onlooking witnesses of a US election, with the US as the ruling empire of the world, will have their opinions and try to promote them.  Every country has spies and even friendly countries spy on one another and promote influence.  This is, after all, a world of iniquity, that is unequalness, self-promotion, stacking-the-deck, and individuals and localities do it as much as do nations.  Is the “to-do” about it as bad as the product itself?  Nevertheless, it will be in a time of great confusion, distress and terror when the Lord returns to rescue the righteous and judge the wicked.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/russia-meddling-disinformation-fake-news-elections.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998ries&ref=cta
Operation Infektion
A NYTimes video series —
Excerpted Titles:
Opinion video:  Russians have spread disinformation in the West for decades.  Meet the KGB agents who started it and the “truth squad” fighting it.  In Opinion, the video series “Operation Infektion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviet’s central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies.

We reveal how one of the biggest fake news stories ever concocted — the 1984 AIDS-is-a-biological-weapon hoax — went viral in the pre-internet era. Meet the KGB operatives who invented it and the “truth squad” that quashed it. For a bit.

Governments from Pakistan to Mexico to Washington are woefully unequipped to combat disinformation warfare. Eastern European countries living in Russia’s shadow can teach us how to start fighting back, but only if our politicians decide to stop profiting from these tactics and fight them instead.
***
It has been remarkable to date and seems to be answers to prayer that casualties have been so relatively few in the spates of recent US catastrophes —storm, flood, fire.  Is that changing with the terrors of the new California fires?  Moving now at times of “30 footballs fields a minute,” up from an earlier “8 football fields per minute” in an initial report, “the Camp Fire” and the other California fires have now claimed 40+ lives, and the count is just beginning, with hundreds more “still unaccounted for.”  Some will turn up alive out of the confusion, but coroner teams are already busy finding the remains, sometime very slight, of the dead in these blast furnaces of racing, roaring fires.  “Come, Lord Jesus;” thank you for many rescues, for people calling on “our Heavenly Father,” and even for those who die in a society that knows your Name.  May many call and have called on you in salvation even in their perishing.  Let the Living take heed; the times of Judgment are here and are becoming widespread.  “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:17-18)

“Worst California Fires Ever!” (In the light of so many horrible fires over the last several years, this is quite a statement!)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/us/missing-persons-california-fires.html?emc=edit_th_181113&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981113
In California’s Fires, Fear for the Missing: ‘I Loved Her. And I Don’t Know if I’ll Ever See Her Again.’
PARADISE, Calif. — Has anyone heard from Billy? Susan? Betty?
Their friends at the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park want to know.
Four days after a blaze called the Camp Fire ripped through the small town of Paradise, the sheriff’s office said that more than 200 residents are still missing. It is a staggering number in a place that as of Monday night had lost at least 42 people in what is now the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history.
When asked about his team’s progress in the search, Sheriff Kory Honea of Butte County said simply, “We have a lot of work to do.”
Among the missing are many older residents of the mobile home park, a close-knit retirement community of 97 pastel-colored homes, where residents were so tightly bound that they ate together, took walks together and often prayed together, bowing their heads at the mailbox, or in the middle of the street, when they heard of another’s misfortune. Just 20 or so of those people are accounted for by the park’s owner, Glen Fuller. … …
***
Is the U.N. attempting to end nationhood?  They will not succeed for God has ordained nationhood at least through the end of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Rev. 22:2), but it will take passing through the Bloody Sea of Armageddon (Rev. 14:20) to finish these stratagems of the spirit of Antichrist.

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2730
Globalist Push To Erase Borders: UN Promotes Migration As Human Right
The United Nations, in a non-binding agreement that almost all UN member states will sign at a ceremony in Morocco in early December, is making migration a human right.
The finalized text of the agreement, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, although officially non-binding, "puts migration firmly on the global agenda. It will be a point of reference for years to come and induce real change on the ground..." according to Jürg Lauber, the representative of Switzerland to the UN -- who led the work on the agreement together with the representative of Mexico. … …
***
Want to be happier? Crank back the Facebook; add more prayer and fellowship —
https://newatlas.com/social-media-increases-depression-loneliness-fomo/57202/?
Study finds too much social media is making us feel lonely and depressed
An interesting new experimental study from the University of Pennsylvania has demonstrated the first causal connection between social media use and feelings of depression and loneliness. The research claims that decreasing one's social media use can lead to significant improvements in personal well-being. … …
***
(November 14)
The original Star Trek’s “Impulse-Power Engines,” driven by a series of small, continual, directed nuclear explosions are now going online by the Russians, hoping for eventual interstellar travel —
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/742301/russia-space-roscosmos-nuclear-ship-reactor-vladimir-putin-facebook-video-pictures
Russia unveils NUCLEAR spaceship to fly further than mankind EVER has before
RUSSIA has unveiled a nuclear powered spaceship designed to fly beyond our known Solar System on manned missions.
***
Democrats are by now meant to be “out of the woods” in control of the House but radicals in their ranks are looking for a new America (or the end of America and sovereignty) and will contend with the middle-of-the-road establishment:  Pelosi’s office picketed by Ocasio-Cortez for starters.

http://www.fltimes.com/tns/washington/divisions-between-progressives-and-moderates-threaten-to-complicate-democrats-new/article_3376bcc2-8ed9-51f6-8775-6e8d0e5bc8e3.html
Divisions between progressives and moderates threaten to complicate Democrats' new House majority
		
WASHINGTON —House Democrats figured out how to win in districts that narrowly supported President Donald Trump in 2016. Now they have to figure out how to govern there.
That's one of the key issues facing Democrats as they prepare to take control of the House for the first time in eight years: How do they strike a balance between progressive voters who are anxious to see Democrats stand up to Trump and more moderate voters in formerly Republican districts who decided to pull the lever for Democrats last week? … …

https://ntknetwork.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joins-climate-protest-in-pelosis-office/
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Joins Climate Protest in Pelosi’s Office
Democratic socialist and Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-CA) spent her first day in Washington, D.C. as an incoming freshman by joining climate protestors in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office.
***
(November 15)
Cold and Snow Hit Here Suddenly, Yesterday the 14th, but this is New England; Look at San Antonio!
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/weather/article/Icy-San-Antonio-weather-shatters-102-year-old-13391345.ph
Cold San Antonio weather 'shatters' 102-year-old record
San Antonio reached a low of 23 degrees at the airport this morning, which tied for the fourth-coldest November low temperature on record. The only colder temperatures were recorded in 1976 and 1886, and both were later in the month.
The cold weather also broke daily records on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“This shatters the old record low of 28 degrees set back in 1916,” the National Weather Service tweeted of Wednesday’s weather. … …
***
Leadership wobbles in varied venues — “A House divided against itself cannot stand.” /  “…and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring…” (Luke 21:25)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pelosi-challenges-unhappy-dems-block-her-bid-speaker-175012347--politics.html
Pelosi unfazed as unhappy Dems claim votes to block her rise
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a steadfast Rep. Nancy Pelosi all but dared potential rivals for the gavel to come forward, a group of restive House Democrats vowed Wednesday to produce enough votes to block her from becoming the House's new speaker.
For two days now, disgruntled Democrats have claimed they have 17 names on a letter opposing Pelosi's leadership, promising to air the document soon. They say those signing on are pledging to vote against the Californian when the full chamber elects the next speaker on Jan. 3. … …

http://news.trust.org/item/20181115103419-avfed
British PM May suffers severe blow over Brexit as ministers quit
LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit secretary and other ministers quit one by one on Thursday, striking at the heart of a draft divorce deal with the European Union she is struggling to save.
Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.
Their departure, and the resignations of two junior ministers, shakes May's divided government. Raab is the second Brexit secretary to quit over May's plans to leave the European Union, the biggest shift in British policy in more than 40 years. … …

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-defense-minister-resigns-threatening-netanyahus-grip-on-power-1542197078
Israeli Defense Minister Resigns, Threatening Netanyahu’s Grip on Power
Avigdor Lieberman has long disagreed with the Israeli prime minister’s response to months of flare ups with Gaza
TEL AVIV—Israel’s defense minister announced his intention to resign and withdraw his party from the ruling coalition Wednesday, a move that weakens Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power and could pressure him to call for early elections.
Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the right-leaning Yisrael Beiteinu party as well as defense minister, said he disagreed with a cease-fire reached between Israel and militant groups in Gaza, describing it as a “capitulation to terrorism.” … …

Behead Five Scapegoats to Hide a Prince?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-khashoggi-death-penalty.html?emc=edit_na_20181115&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
BREAKING NEWS Thursday, November 15, 2018 6:28 AM EST
Saudi Arabia said it was seeking the death penalty for five people suspected of involvement in the killing of the dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
***
“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 22:5

Lord, we pray for this Chicago pastor who may be slammed and hated and called a hater for guarding the door of his flock.  Help him to stand in the Truth with mercy but not allow truth-baiters to invade your sanctuary.  If this man, sporting effeminacy, can be saved, if he really doesn’t know what he is doing, let him find repentance and salvation, even through this congregation.  Amen.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article221698660.html
Chicago pastor asks man in drag to leave church, ‘go put on man clothes.’ He’s not sorry.
A Chicago pastor who asked a man dressed in drag to leave a worship service because he was dressed like a woman stands by his actions after coming under fire.
A Facebook video of the Sunday night encounter shows Antonio Rocquemore of Power House International Ministries asking the unidentified man to stop out into the aisle.
“Can you leave my church and go put on man clothes? And don’t come here like that no more,” Rocquemore can be seen telling the man in the video, posted by Christian James Lhuillier.
“i hold a standard in here. Whatever you do on the outside is your business, but I will not let drag queens come in here. If you’re gonna come in here you’re gonna dress like a man.”
***
(November 16)
CBS This Morning updates California death toll to 66 with a huge surge in “the unaccounted for” to 631.
***
Things our science just begin to find out, the Bible reveals from deep antiquity — “the fountains of the deep” (Genesis 7:11) —  Now, the Mariana Trench may be found to be moving much water between the surface and the inner Earth’s “oceans.”
https://newatlas.com/mariana-trench-water-mantle/57239/
Earth is "drinking" more seawater through the Mariana Trench than previously thought
The Earth's surface is famously a pretty wet place, but a new study suggests that the mantle is home to much more water than was previously believed. Observations of seismic activity around the Mariana Trench have revealed that subducting tectonic plates are dragging more water deeper into the Earth, which could change our understanding of the global water cycle. … …

***
I believe China’s maneuvering in the Pacific is a prelude, perhaps yet unconscious, a strategy to defend its rearguard, when it is called to Armageddon —
(It is worth reading this whole piece for more understanding of an increasingly grave situation.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/world/asia/usa-china-trade-pacific.html?emc=edit_th_181116&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981116
Military Competition in Pacific Endures as Biggest Flash Point Between U.S. and China

WASHINGTON — Trade disputes have for months been the focus of souring relations between the United States and China. But intractable problems in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait underscore that competition for dominance of the Pacific Ocean remains the most volatile source of conflict between the two nations — and the tensions are rising. … …

***
A NYTimes Movie Review:  J.K. Rowling’s penchant as a word-wizard is acknowledged, but the tenor of the work is summed up by the reviewer as “dark.”  I am only lightly, by choice, aware of Rowling’s work and worlds, and so can not offer critical insight.  The weird, hybrid creatures, which are the subject matter, cause me to think of the cultural influence and myth that hangs over the human race because of the Nephilim and their twisted progenies of Noah’s day.  We seem to have a subconscious fascination with such things as these hybrid beasts, made and set loose by the fallen angels, and by their diabolical intercourses with humans, these angelic beings who are the pantheons of “gods” of the entranced and bedeviled pagans and heathens.  God save!  Is it not best to discourage your children from imbibing in such things?  At the least, use this stuff to show the veracity of the Bible, the reality of Evil, and the Better Way, in supernatural matters, of following the Lord our God and his Word.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/movies/fantastic-beasts.html?emc=edit_th_181116&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981116
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ Review: Apocalypse Too Soon
The team behind “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” throws an awful lot at the screen during this clotted two-hour-plus diversion, the latest installment in the J.K. Rowling-verse. As is often the case in a Rowling production, evil is ascendant, seeping through both human and magic realms like poison gas.
Mostly, though, because Rowling builds worlds, what “Grindelwald” has is a great deal of story. The movie is chockablock with stuff: titular creatures (if not nearly enough), attractive people, scampering extras, eye-catching locations, tragic flashbacks, teary confessions and largely bloodless, spectacular violence. It’s an embarrassment of riches, and it’s suffocating. … …
***

California’s Fires have left little time for FEMA, for local officials, et al to think where to put the displaced thousands.  Is space in the U.S. for populace shrinking significantly as Californians suddenly live in tents, these also in danger of floods and mudslides as soon as rains hit the burnt-bare slopes?  Likewise, in Florida, after Hurricane Michael, new tent dwellers are in the 1000’s.  Where will we put all these people if resettlement is necessary due to conditions?  And with possible “nuclear” foreign inbound migration at hand too?  Looming issues.  Will America become the home of a nomadic homeless?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/us/homeless-california-wildfires-evacuees.html?emc=edit_th_181116&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981116
California Fires Only Add to Acute Housing Crisis
CHICO, Calif. — Within hours of the flames igniting in Northern California last week, an instant new homeless crisis was born. In a state already suffering an acute housing shortage, the fire that swept through the town of Paradise and neighboring hamlets has once again laid bare one of California’s biggest vulnerabilities: With each disaster — wildfire, mudslide or earthquake — there are thousands of people who cannot find homes in a market that for years has had very little vacancy.
Over the past several days, the thousands of people who lost homes in fires at both ends of the state have scattered across California and beyond, to motels, government shelters and places like the East Avenue Church, where Patty Saunders, 89, ended up after barely escaping the mobile home community where for years she has subsisted on a $900 monthly Social Security check.
Ms. Saunders said she had hoped to go to her daughter’s house outside Los Angeles. But her daughter had been forced to evacuate her home as the Woolsey Fire, which still rages west of Los Angeles, approached. So Ms. Saunders ended up at the church. … …

***
Are some IVF technologies increasing likelihoods of intellectual disability in the children they produce?
https://newatlas.com/fertility-ivf-intellectual-disability-risks/57257/
Experts urge caution over study linking IVF technique to increased risk of intellectual disability
A new study from the Telethon Kids Institute in Australia has revealed a possible association between intellectual disability and some specific forms of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Experts are urging caution when interpreting these results, as it is unclear exactly what may be causing the increased rates of intellectual disability. … …
***
(November 17)
“Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature!”  What monstrosities await now that we are “as in the days of Noah” when Nephilim Science and Experiments filled the Earth with varied genetic hybrids and distortions?
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/742972/lab-grown-kidneys-brain-muscle-cells-kidney-disease
Lab-grown organs ‘go rogue’ and develop BRAIN and MUSCLE cells
***
Venezuela, sinking on into hellish conditions, follows China into total control of its citizens —

https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-id-card-tracks-citizens-like-china-2018-11
Venezuela is rolling out a new ID card manufactured in China that can track, reward, and punish citizens
Venezuela is rolling out a new, smart-card ID known as the "carnet de la patria," or "fatherland card," manufactured by Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. 
The ID transmits data about cardholders to government computer servers, and is increasingly linked to subsidized food, health, and other social programs most Venezuelans rely on to survive.
The fatherland card, critics argue, illustrates how China through state-linked companies like ZTE, exports technological know-how that can help like-minded governments track, reward, and punish citizens.
***
Praise God for Ohio Legislators!  A new assault on the seemingly endless genocide of abortion — This could fell Roe v. Wade. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/health/ohio-abortion-ban-heartbeat-bill.html?emc=edit_th_181117&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981117
Ohio House Passes Bill to Criminalize Abortions on Fetuses With a Heartbeat
The Ohio House of Representatives this week passed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country — one that would penalize doctors for performing an abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected and pose a potential challenge to Roe v. Wade.
A fetal heartbeat can be detected by an ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, a time during which most women are unaware they are pregnant.
Under the bill, approved Thursday by a vote of 60 to 35, performing an abortion on a fetus with a heartbeat would result in a fifth-degree felony, which is punishable in Ohio by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine. The bill now heads to the Ohio Senate.
The measure includes no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors may, however, make an exception during a medical emergency or if an abortion would save a woman’s life.
***
(November 18)
California Fires: “Unaccounted for” toll doubles again.  76 now confirmed dead.

http://news.trust.org/item/20181118030334-ckup2
Search on for 1, 276 now missing after California's deadliest wildfire
PARADISE, Calif., Nov 17 (Reuters) - The number of people missing after California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire jumped on Saturday to 1,276, despite authorities locating hundreds of people who scattered when the Camp Fire tore through the mountain town of Paradise.  Forensic recovery teams sifting through the charred wreckage recovered the remains of five more victims, bringing the death toll to at least 76, authorities said. Sixty-three of them have been tentatively identified, pending DNA confirmation. … …
***
Lying to the online masses as sport and hobby —

“…deceiving and being deceived,” (2 Timothy 3:13), among Paul’s signs of the last times.  Who knows what Truth is?  “What is truth?” said Pontius Pilate.  The only hope is to cling to the Word and seek the Spirit’s guidance on it.  Not only the deceivers are held to account but even the deceived are reckoned as guilty;  We must “fix our eyes on Jesus.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/nothing-on-this-page-is-real-how-lies-become-truth-in-online-america/2018/11/17/edd44cc8-e85a-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.699e8d5a3c33
‘Nothing on this page is real’: How lies become truth in online America
(excerpt) — …“BREAKING,” he wrote, pecking out each letter with his index fingers as he considered the possibilities. Maybe he would announce that Hillary Clinton had died during a secret overseas mission to smuggle more refugees into America. Maybe he would award President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for his courage in denying climate change.
A new message popped onto Blair’s screen from a friend who helped with his website. “What viral insanity should we spread this morning?” the friend asked. … …

*** *** ***

“…freely ye have received, freely give”

Matthew 10:8

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

November 11

Saints, 

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). As even Jesus, in the “kenosis,” the emptying of himself of complete foreknowledge in his Incarnation as Paul reports to the Philippians (2:7ff.), laid aside the  knowledge of the hour of his return when walking in his first coming to Earth; how much less are we to profess to know the hour or the day but are to make our whole lives, lives of watching?  Paul echoed this thought in his exposition about the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, concluding the chapter with the very comfort of an always imminent, always “at hand,” Rapture event.  But he begins chapter 5 with the same acknowledgement as Jesus in saying that no man knows the hour or the day by saying, “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (5:1-5).

Times and seasons.  You will not find me (nor any other orthodox, God-fearing and God-loving believers and teachers) setting a day or an hour as I aim to obey the instructions of the New Testament, but the doctrines of the Second Coming of the Lord utterly pervade the New Testament and are absolutely central and cardinal to it. They are such that I have heard New Testament statisticians cite that 25-40% of its verses speak directly of the unfolding events of Christ’s Second Coming or allude to it.  Yet, it is doctrine filled with mysteries that we are to hold as stewards not yet knowing all (1 Cor. 4:1).  We do know that even the very Second Coming at Armageddon will come at a specific time, 3 1/2 years after the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation in declaring himself both God and Christ in the soon to be rebuilt Temple made for this very act.  And we do know the Second Coming will yet catch the unbelieving world by surprise (for indeed they do not believe in this event), and we know the warring armies at Armageddon will even turn and ally with one another suddenly when the skies open on this “alien invasion” by our returning Lord (concluding chapters of Revelation, see 19:19).  We know also that obedient and watching believers, true Christians, will be taken up before this and suddenly, and yes delightfully surprisingly, by the Rapture, and that though we may grow weary and sleepy in our watch, God will send a trumpet as He did in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt. 25) to make sure we are rewarded for our watch.

We know this is always imminent.  God could’ve quickly set this up in any generation since the Church was instituted.  All Christians are encouraged and commanded to watch and wait for this.  It is ever imminent and neither the Abomination of Desolation, nor the conquering Second Coming exactly 3 1/2 years later will obstruct or precede this event.  No prophecy must be fulfilled first.  It is the next thing to happen for all watchers and obeyers of the New Testament throughout Church History.  God’s believing people are ever apocalyptic in their lifestyles and ongoing hopes.  Surely, every generation sees many events of worldwide Sin that are in type events of the Apocalypse. Yes, prophecy unfolds in all of these events and is unfolding rapidly NOW, but yet the Rapture remains imminent, at hand at all times.  Even “religious” unbelievers continually fulfill a prophecy of Peter even in themselves and in their own malign opinions saying, “ Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:4).

And the airwaves, digital world, YouTube, etc. are filled with dates, hours, and opinions of what will happen and when and heresies and heretics flourish (along with their books and video sales!).  Yet, others stand true and guard the Mysteries too.  I was reading Hal Lindsey’s email newsletter for this week.  (For those of you who don’t know or remember Hal Lindsey, he is the now nearly 89-year-old teacher who astonished the nations circa 1970 with this book, The Late Great Planet Earth, which lead the NYTimes best seller list for many months in that era, and was a dominant factor in the Jesus Movement among the counter culture of that day. He unveiled an earlier and yet still current Middle East situation, etc.)  He also is still faithfully proclaiming an imminent Rapture and saying that while yes there have always been unfolding prophetic events that now they are piling on top of one another in all areas of concern at once:  all kinds of natural disasters one after another, political unrests and deepening divisions, genocides, mass migrations of those driven by the devil himself, diseases and plagues, Beastly, dehumanizing tech, drug addictions and opioid slaughter, enchantments, etc., etc., etc.

Times and Seasons?  In all these things, we are to make ourselves ready, watching and believing.  How do we watch?  Not by staring at the sky; No, but by searching and believing the Word; obediently serving the Lord and the Gospel; watching the signs of the Times and studying the prophecies.  The Rapture and the time of the Rapture is a mystery, said Paul, but it is one that is revealed to us, to hold reverently and carefully and watchfully.  For now, we “know in part” (1 Cor. 13:12), but then we will know fully!  What is the admonition of all of Scripture: “…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” (continually, in all thy ways) (Deuteronomy 6: 5-9).  “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

***

The Week —

(November 5)
Dangerous Vigilante Actions?  Self-proclaimed and self-armed militias following US troops to the border.  Greatly dangerous times.  As to the “caravans,” it is proper to show mercy on the needy, but if they should begin to succeed, it will open flood gates of population shift, possibly by hundreds of thousands or millions at a time, and no one’s national sovereignty, theirs or ours, can survive such change.  The evil they flee will come in with them and America too will be reduced to third world anarchy.  A better bet, let them turn to God, form their own protective militias, and take back their countries from the Powers of Darkness.  But, is it too late?  For decades, America has subsidized these little countries, but the money has been spirited away by corruption (both by pagan corruptions of the Faith and political/strong-arm/military autocrats).  Are these now the judgments that will bring in Antichrist?

“To the walls,” shouted the defenders of the Alamo, but the might of Santa Ana’s army overwhelmed them.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-militia-groups-head-to-border-stirred-by-trump%E2%80%99s-call-to-arms/ar-BBPiGxA
U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms
FALFURRIAS, Tex. —Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.
“We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,” said Shannon McGauley, a bail bondsman in the Dallas suburbs who is president of the Texas Minutemen. McGauley said he was preparing to head for the Rio Grande in coming days. … …

***
The San Andreas Fault is also moving —  One way God could slow or stop the reassembly of a babylonian-magnet-migration system undermining the nations? (God overthrew the first Babylon and divided the nations that they might populate the Earth rather than form a one world government by the spirit of Antichrist in that ancient Age.)  There are many saints in California; Lord God, lift them up before destruction, but many pagans also revel too in the land of “Californication.”  What will be?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-03/california-hit-39-quakes-24-hours-scientists-warn-movement-along-san-andreas-fault
California Hit By 39 Quakes In 24 Hours As Scientists Warn Of "Movement Along The San Andreas Fault"
A series of large earthquakes has rattled California over the last 24 hours, and scientists are telling us that the shaking was the result of “movement along the San Andreas Fault system”. 
In recent months there has been an alarming amount of seismic activity all along “the Ring of Fire”, and there have been times when the number of global earthquakes has been way above normal.  Could it be possible that all of this unusual seismic activity is leading up to something?  As you will see below, experts are telling us that we are overdue for the “Big One” to hit California.  And when it does eventually strike, it could be far worse than most people would dare to imagine. 
***
IVF Downsides: Dehumanization? Humans as Products? Say the prophets on the cheapening of humanity: “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink” (Joel 3:3). “As in the days of Noah (when genetically altered human “products” {the Nephilim and their inventions} filled the planet) so shall it also be in the coming of the Son of man,” added the Lord in the Gospels’ discussion of the End of the Age scenarios (See Matthew 24, Luke 17 & 21, Mark 13).

https://nypost.com/2018/11/03/mom-to-the-internet-anybody-want-to-trade-my-girl-embryo-for-a-boy/
Mom to the Internet:  Anybody want to trade my girl embryo for a boy?
(excerpt):  …Last Wednesday, Lisa took drastic action, sitting down at her computer and writing a message: “Hello, we have been trying to give my child a sibling for three years . . . we want to complete our family with a son. We have a great quality female embryo. Would you like to consider a trade?”
She posted the plea to a number of Facebook support groups for IVF couples — and the outrage was immediate. Although no hateful comments were visible to Lisa, enough people complained to forum moderators that her post was removed from one group’s page.
However, Lisa was contacted by a forty-something California woman interested in a potential swap.  “She already has a toddler, and she has two male embryos left over,” said Lisa. “Her husband . . . has six sons from another marriage and then they have a boy together. 
“Her husband said: ‘If we are going to go through this again, it’s going to be a girl!”

***
Hive-or-Rat-Living? imagine the fights over who left the dirty dishes!  This is hard enough as an initiation for college kids in dorms.  It would be no rest if all of us must so live!  Some may adapt well.  For many, it would be prison-like.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/04/worlds-largest-dorm-style-co-living-apartment-building-coming-to-san-jose/
World’s largest dorm-style ‘co-living’ apartment building coming to San Jose
SAN JOSE — The latest trendy new apartment building coming to downtown San Jose will offer plenty of luxury amenities, including cleaning services, laundry and dog walking. The catch? Each resident will share a kitchen and living room with at least a dozen other strangers.
The nearly 800-unit building, set to break ground early next year, is the latest project to embrace “co-living” — a dorm-like set-up where residents sleep in small private bedrooms and share common spaces, as a way to pack more people into a building and keep rents down. It’s a lifestyle that’s becoming increasingly popular as Bay Area residents, grappling with sky-high housing costs, are forced to find ever-more creative ways to stay afloat, and developers are encouraged to come up with innovative methods to house more people faster.
The San Jose project will be the largest co-living building in the world, according to its developer, San Francisco-based communal housing startup Starcity. The company also has a 270-unit co-living building in the works in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. The two projects, both slated to open in 2021, will be the startup’s first attempts at building from the ground up instead of renovating existing buildings. Together they mark a major expansion by Starcity, and would increase the company’s existing inventory by more than 10-fold. … …
***
Some American Fundamentalists may not be able to “relate” to Coptic Christians with their icons and other ancient traditions varying from ours, but let it be only family squabbles, and when enemies attack the family, we pull together.  Islam is the Enemy of the Cross, and of the Lord our God.  Let us pray for the lives and souls of our enemies but stand with our family, those who at least profess the Lordship of Christ.  He will judge us all: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;” (Revelation 7:9).  For now, make no mistake, we are in a real war not merely a metaphorical one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/world/middleeast/egypt-militants-coptic-christians.html?emc=edit_th_181105&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981105
Egypt Says It Killed 19 Militants After Deadly Attack on Christians
CAIRO — Egypt said on Sunday that it had killed 19 militants linked to an ambush that left seven Christian pilgrims dead, as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi scrambled to respond to a surge of Christian anger against his government.
The Interior Ministry said Egyptian forces had killed the militants during a chase through a mountainous area in the desert west of the ancient monastery where gunmen opened fire on three buses filled with pilgrims on Friday.
Six of the seven pilgrims killed in the attack came from the same extended family, Coptic Orthodox officials said.
The announcement on Sunday was accompanied by graphic photographs of bloodied bodies lying in the sand. But it offered few details about the circumstances of the raid, including its timing or whether the government had experienced any casualties.
Egypt routinely publicizes such raids, yet questions persist about why the security forces are unable to stop militant attacks. Outrage over Friday’s attack — the deadliest against Christians in almost a year — was fanned by the fact that militants carried out a similar ambush at almost the same location in May 2017, killing 28 pilgrims. … …

Lord God, save and deliver also this Christian sister in Pakistan, Asia Bibi, whom an Islamic killer mob wants to hang for supposed blasphemy of their prophet.  Pakistan’s Supreme Court has absolved her, and they and her family are in danger of the mob too.  Put confusion and forgetfulness into the mob’s ranks and deliver both her and her family from their raging; cast out the evil and the evil one.  Your will be done. Amen.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pakistans-high-court-acquits-christian-woman-asia-bibi-death-row-blasphemy-today-2018-10-31/
Pakistan's high court acquits Christian woman on death row for blasphemy
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's top court has acquitted a Christian woman who has been on death row since 2010 for insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad. In Wednesday's verdict, the court ordered authorities to free Asia Bibi
Bibi was being held at an undisclosed jail for security reasons. She is a mother of four, the Reuters news agency notes.
The landmark ruling is expected to anger Islamists who have threatened to launch nationwide protests if the court freed her. The case has also infuriated Christians around the world, Reuters reports.
Bibi was arrested in 2009 after a quarrel. She reportedly went to fetch water for herself and other people with whom she was working. Two Muslim women refused to drink from the container, because they said it had been used by a Christian. Days later, a mob accused Bibi of blasphemy, and she was later convicted and sentenced to death.
The mere rumor of blasphemy can ignite mob violence and lynchings in Pakistan, and combatting alleged blasphemy has become a central rallying cry for hard-line Islamists. A governor and a minister of minorities were assassinated in 2011 for supporting Bibi.
Ahead of the verdict, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a hard-line cleric who has brought tens of thousands of people into the streets for past rallies, called on his supporters to gather in all major cities to express their love for the prophet and to protest if Bibi is released. Authorities have stepped up security at churches around the country. … …
***
(November 6)
Mid-Term Election Day, USA.  O, LORD God, have your will.  You “turn the king’s heart as rivers of water” (Pr. 21:1) so too can you easily handle the rule “by the people” called democracy.  Let your Will be done this day, whether to mercy or to judgment or for both.  “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” said Christ our Lord (Mt. 12:25).

https://apnews.com/464f27b585d34fc597884d88d8ab10af
With him or against him, Trump looms large over Election Day
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Michael Gregoire marched along a downtown sidewalk in the tense days before the midterm elections, waving a hand-painted sign at passing traffic: “DEFEAT REPUBLICANS 2018.”
“The survival of the country is going to depend on this election,” he said as another man stopped for a moment to argue. The strangers faced each other from opposite edges of the great American divide, Democrat versus Republican, both convinced the election is among the most consequential in their lifetimes and that they must save the nation from the other side.
***
Germany re-divided? A wasteland?  Marriage, Men and Women Together, becoming a thing of the Past in Germany?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/world/europe/merkel-east-germany-nationalists-populism.html?emc=edit_th_181106&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981106
One Legacy of Merkel? Angry East German Men Fueling the Far Right

EBERSBACH-NEUGERSDORF, Germany — Frank Dehmel was on the streets of East Germany in 1989. Every Monday, he marched against the Communist regime, demanding freedom and democracy and chanting with the crowds: “We are the people!”
Three decades later, Mr. Dehmel is on the streets again, older and angrier, and chanting the same slogan — this time for the far right.
He won freedom and democracy when the Berlin Wall came down 29 years ago on Nov. 9. But he lost everything else: His job, his status, his country — and his wife. Like so many eastern women, she went west to look for work and never came back.
To understand why the far right is on the march again in Germany, it helps to understand the many grievances of its most loyal supporters: men in the former Communist East. … …
***
(November 7)
Blue up +34 in House: Red gain +3 in Senate (Late Counts Still Arriving) —

Says the New York Times: “Not a Blue Wave…but a Check.”  Just as God “turns the king’s heart as rivers of water” so He can cause the people in democracy to also do his Will.  Let us trust Him and not the Flesh of Mankind.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/us/politics/trump-house-senate.html?emc=edit_na_20181107&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
Two Years After Trump’s Victory, Voters Erect an Impediment to His Power
The vaunted blue wave that Democrats had hoped for failed to fully materialize on Tuesday night, but the days of one-party control in Washington are now over. President Trump’s strength in rural areas kept the Senate in Republican control, but voters in urban and suburban districts across the country sent the White House a clear message: They want a check on the president. … …

***
A glowing orange Earth — the science explanation,  a charged ionosphere.  Is there also a spiritual cause, among “the prince(s) of the powers of the air”?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6360453/The-ORANGE-planet-Stunning-NASA-image-ISS-reveals-Earth-rare-airglow.html
The ORANGE planet: Stunning NASA image from the International Space Station shows Earth enveloped in a rare 'airglow'

***
(November 8)
Are Anarchy and Civil War gestating?  Momentous Days Upon Us?

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/protesters-chant-outside-tucker-carlson-home-fox-news-host/
Protesters Send Message to Tucker Carlson outside His Home: ‘We Know Where You Sleep at Night’
A group of protesters congregated outside what they claimed was Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s home in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night to chant threatening messages.
Smash Racism D.C., a self-described “anti-fascist” group, posted a video of their members screaming obscenities at Carlson’s house and blaming his “policies” for the deaths of thousands of people.
“Tucker Carlson, we will fight!” the protesters chanted. “We know where you sleep at night!” … …

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/11/dc-antifa-publishes-home-addresses-of-tucker-carlson-and-his-brother-as-well-as-ann-coulter-neil-patel-and-sean-hannity/
DC Antifa Publishes Home Addresses of Tucker Carlson and His Brother — As Well As Ann Coulter, Neil Patel, and Sean Hannity
Hours after an Antifa mob showed up at the home of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, an affiliated Twitter account published his home address and the home address of his brother Buckley Carlson — along with the addresses of Ann Coulter, Daily Caller’s Neil Patel, and Sean Handy.

https://nypost.com/2018/11/07/trump-rails-against-rude-media-in-heated-press-conference/
Trump rails against ‘rude’ media in heated press conference
A combative President Trump on Wednesday got into an angry confrontation with reporters at a White House news conference Wednesday.
After CNN’s Jim Acosta pressed him on why he characterized a caravan of a few thousand Central American asylum seekers hundreds of miles from the US border “an invasion,” the president erupted.
“Honestly I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much higher,” Trump said, adding “That’s enough. That’s enough. That’s enough. Excuse me, that’s enough,” as Acosta tried to follow up.
But the CNN anchor persisted, asking the president about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
“That’s enough. Put down the mic. I’ll tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN. You’re a very rude person. The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible. You shouldn’t treat people that way,” he said, referring to his spokeswoman, who frequently spars with reporters during press briefings.
A White House aide tried to take the microphone from Acosta, but he wouldn’t give it up, before finally relenting.
When NBC’s Peter Alexander defended Acosta, Trump replied: “I’m not a big fan of yours. Just sit down, please.” … …

Two Hours Later, Jeff Sessions is Fired.  Prelude to Open Political War / Democratic Impeachment Attempts are the Rivals’ Assessment? (Lord, be with bro. Jeff that he keep his confession of You.  Let your Hand of Mercy also guide the President. It is hardly the first time that people of The Faith disagree, Acts 15:37ff., and You are able to use even their disagreements…and the disciples “…[re]commended them to the grace of God.”)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46132348
Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions
***
Add a new definition for “talking heads” as Siri and Alexa are about to take conversational shape via Furhat Robotics —
See the videos — Ghostly internal projector projects emotive, living face on surface of AI robot face. — “a much more human-like experience”.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/weird-robotic-head-friendly-face-13549058
This weird robotic head will be the friendly face of artificial intelligence
***
NYTimes Breaking News Alert, 4:14 a.m. Thursday Morning — Mass Shooting in Thousand Oaks, California late Wednesday Night —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/us/shooting-california-thousand-oaks.html?emc=edit_na_20181108&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
Gunman Kills at Least 12 at Thousand Oaks Bar
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — At least 11 bar patrons and a sheriff’s deputy were killed late Wednesday in a shooting at a country and western dance hall in Thousand Oaks, Calif., that was holding an event for college students, officials said.
The gunman is dead, officials said early Thursday, adding that there was no longer a threat to the public after the shooting at the bar, which was filled with about 100 people.
The Ventura County sheriff, Geoff Dean, said there were “multiple other victims of different levels of injuries.” His voice cracking, he identified the slain sheriff’s deputy as Ron Helus. He said that when officers arrived at the scene of the shooting, the suspect had already died.
The shooting at the popular country and western venue came just over a year after 58 people were killed at a country music festival in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock opened fire from a high-rise hotel room.
That attack — and the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in February — renewed the debate about the prevalence of guns in the United States and their connection to the high number of mass shootings in the country. … …
***
Canada: Gone to Pot; Definition 2:  “Can’t get enough.”  Folks in the Frozen North decide en masse to check out of reality and to prefer oblivion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/world/canada/canada-marijuana-shortage.html?emc=edit_th_181108&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981108
Dry Spell: Canada Runs Low on Legal Marijuana Just Weeks After Its Approval
MONTREAL — Canada is running low on legal pot three weeks after the government approved the use of recreational marijuana, a shortage that is sending some frustrated consumers back to the black market.
At least three provinces — Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick — are facing a dearth of legal marijuana and two of them have seen outlets selling cannabis temporarily shut down for lack of supply.
“We need more weed!” said Trevor Tobin, who teamed up with his mother to open a marijuana retailer called High North in Labrador City, Newfoundland, a small mining town near the Quebec border. He said his suppliers did not grow enough plants and don’t have enough packaging equipment.
“It is the law of supply and demand,” Mr. Tobin said.
The shortage threatens to undermine a major aim of legalization: to tame an illegal marijuana trade estimated at about 5.3 billion Canadian dollars annually. Angry consumers across the country say they are returning to their illegal dealers. In Montreal, several pot smokers said their illegal dealers were taking advantage of the shortage by hawking home delivery services and lowering prices. … …
***
(November 9)
Things Climate Change Worriers Can Do Little About.  At least 9 times in the Book of Revelation we are told of upcoming asteroid strikes that will greatly harm the planet.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/three-huge-asteroids-fly-dangerously-13554507
Three HUGE asteroids will fly dangerously close to Earth this weekend, NASA warns
This weekend, three enormous asteroids will make a ‘close approach’ to Earth, NASA has warned.
The asteroids - the biggest of which is predicted to measure up to 30 metres across - will whizz past our planet on November 10.
At around 14:03 GMT, an asteroid dubbed 2018 VS1 will pass the Earth.
This asteroid is predicted to measure between 13-28 metres across - suggesting the asteroid could be five times as tall as a giraffe!
Thankfully, NASA’s trajectory estimates indicate that 2018 VS1 will be around 861,700 miles away from Earth during its closest approach.
Just 16 minutes after 2018 VS1 passes our planet, another asteroid dubbed 2018 VR1 will swing by.
This asteroid is predicted to measure up to 30 metres wide, but thankfully will pass at a distance of 3.12 million miles from Earth.
Finally, at 18:21 GMT, an asteroid dubbed 2018 VX1 that is around 17 metres wide will pass Earth.
This asteroid will pass at a distance of 237,037 miles from our planet.
While these distances may sound huge, NASA classes them as ‘close approaches.’
***
“Paradise Lost”!  Paradise, California erased by fire overnight.  Casualty count unknown.

California burns again, the Ventura Fire, 10,000 acres overnight and  “just up the street” from the neighborhood where a shooter kills 12 and himself, a story distracting us all and the world, and with Ventura too but further north, a huge new wildfire and a very rapid one, “80 football fields per minute,”  “the Camp Fire” causes 1000s to flee and causes as yet unreckoned casualties.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-school-fire-20171204-story.html
Ventura County wildfire destroys more homes, reaches Pacific Ocean
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/us/california-camp-fire-hospital-evacuation/index.html
A Northern California fire is growing at a rate of about 80 football fields per minute
(CNN)A wildfire is hopscotching across a northern California county at a rate of roughly 80 football fields per minute, forcing evacuations, injuring residents and firefighters, and sending families racing from their homes.
A state of emergency has been declared for Butte County due to the effects of the Camp Fire, which began around 6:30 a.m. Thursday and quickly spread, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. By 2:00 p.m. local time, it had grown to 18,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.
Fueled by winds, the wildfire jumped ridges from Pulga to Concow and down into Paradise, a town of 26,000 people about 85 miles north of Sacramento. Residents awoke to the stench of smoke and the morning horizon drenched in an ashen-orange that was difficult to see or drive through, hindering evacuations.

https://www.paradisepost.com/2018/11/08/highway-70-being-shut-down-wildfire-in-feather-river-canyon/
10 p.m. update: Up to 1,000 homes burn, multiple deaths in Paradise from Camp Fire; east Chico being evacuated
PARADISE — The fast-moving Camp Fire burned up to 1,000 buildings and homes in the Paradise area Thursday and reportedly killed multiple people, then roared into Chico and forced evacuations there.
Cal Fire-Butte County Chief Darren Read said in the afternoon that hundreds of structures in Paradise have burned, perhaps as many as 1,000. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said there are reports of multiple fatalities, and authorities are trying to verify how many. … …

The Woolsey Fire also wreaks havoc —
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-11-09-southern-california-wildfires-woolsey-fire-malibu-ventura-los-angeles-1/
Woolsey Fire in Southern California Doubles in Size; Malibu and Other Areas Evacuated

***
Howling Mobs of Hypocrites, who would hate brother Jeff Session’s Christian Faith, find their hopes for impeachment now imperiled by his requested resignation, marching in NYC, here in Burlington, Vermont last night and in many other venues.  Can the Union hold much longer?  “Move On” is at it again: advocacy groups organized (exhumed?) by the spirit of antichrist by “social media” over the internet?
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-Protest-Trump-Firing-Jeff-Sessions-Mueller-Probe-Russia-500092022.html
Thousands in NYC Protest Trump Firing of Sessions
President Trump's firing of Jeff Sessions has potentially ominous implications for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia
More than 6,000 people in New York City protested President Trump's ouster of attorney general Jeff Sessions, marching from Times Square to Union Square Thursday evening as they demanded that special counsel Robert Mueller be allowed to continue his Russia investigation. 
The demonstration was one of hundreds across the U.S. and overseas, quickly organized by the Move On advocacy group into a network called "Nobody Is Above the Law." The event page called for protests in each city at 5 p.m. local time Thursday. … …

***
(November 10)
Says an affected interviewee on NBC News this morning, “The Paradise of Eden has become The Gates of Hell.”  Can it get any worse for California, say I as a lay-science-observer?  With California under mass assaults of flame for years now, where is the tinder coming from?  One would think all the underbrush would be stripped bare after years of massive fires, but it still keeps coming on!  An NBC reporter now says these fires are the worst in history. In the light of the last few years, that’s really saying something.  The Ventura and Woolsey Fires burn everything from eastern mountain ranges to the sea.  And the “Camp Fire” moves like the wind!  60 mph gusts predicted again today.

Is God shouting of Judgment!? Are these terrible events themselves still harbingers and warnings of more to come?  As seen in the second link above for the week, from 5 November, Monday, the West Coast is also rumbling under earthquake tremors.  Will the waves themselves, rushing to consume a tectonic plate submersion be the only thing to calm the fires?  Believing Californians, God help them, should be asking God if they are to get further inland.  In very recent days, I have heard multiple people there, in news reports, calling on “our Heavenly Father.”  These are calls to the Christian God, Who is Father to his everlasting Son, and our Father and Creator, and not merely cries to a “universal mush god,” or the gods and their prophets of damned and antichrist religions.  May our Father direct his people out of the flames as he did for the Hebrew boys in the Fiery Furnace.  God save, we pray.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/11/09/woolsey-fire-75k-homes-evacuated/
Woolsey Fire Destroys 150+ Homes; 250,000 Evacuated As Flames Roar Toward Ocean
excerpt:  The entire city of Malibu was also under an unprecedented mandatory evacuation Friday, in addition to areas south of the 101 Freeway, from the Ventura line to Malibu Canyon. The fire was burning south of Mulholland Highway and around 10:30 p.m. flames jumped Pacific Coast Highway, headed toward The Colony on Malibu Road.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/11/09/ventura-hill-woolsey-fire-california-thousand-oaks-shooting/1949030002/
'I just wonder what's next': Thousand Oaks residents deal with mass shooting, horrific fire
excerpt:  "I just wonder what's next," Goodman said Friday outside the evacuation center set up at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center. "There's so much chaos in the world." That chaos targeted Ventura County and the Conejo Valley with an intensity that seemed unfair because it was.

Media Pundits, apparently with too much time still on their hands and paychecks to earn will now push out a news cycle to “explain” (psychoanalyze, psychobabble) why the shooter did what he did.  I can save you some time: he went nuts over his PTSD/once called “shell shock” at viewing the horrors of war, killed a bunch of people with his military “talents,” then killed himself, perhaps even thinking in his agitated, demonized state that presenting accompanying sacrifices would buy him some credence on his entry to Hell.  This morning’s news said he sent out social media posts DURING his killing spree.  Is there much doubt that the present state of “Social Media” has become the playground of the spirit of Antichrist and his Lord, the devil himself?

***
Miracles are given today as well as in the time of Jesus’ Incarnation —  “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8.  A miraculous deliverance in answer to prayer.
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/11/09/lodi-second-chance-brain-tumor/
Lodi Man Gets Second Chance At Life When Brain Tumor Vanishes Without Surgery

*** *** ***

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. 
And let him that heareth say, Come. 
And let him that is athirst come. 
And whosoever will, 
Let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:12-13, 17

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

November 4  (If you have been under Daily Savings Time, Remember to set your clocks back this morning!)

Saints,

IF this era of “fake news” puts you into cloudbanks of uncertainty, and you feel the urge for tribalism, a gathering of your tribe, let it be the tribe of those who profess and follow Christ.  As to men, and people, and nations, the Lord has said He will assemble “his tribe” from every kindred, nation, and tongue (Rev. 5:9), so do not let the xenophobia toward those who are different in one way or another keep your love of Christ back from them.  But we must still remain wary that many in every quarter will use his Name wrongly too, of whom He will say, “Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I never knew you.”  False confessors will also claim the name of Christ, so our confession, our discrimination must be around and about the Truth (and Jesus is the Truth) and by the knowledge of the Presence of His Holy Spirit in those who also exalt Him in the Truth: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”  (1 John 2:27)  If you are born again, you have a built-in wariness against error and deception (though you must diligently use it).  If you are not yet born again, NOW is the time, TODAY is the day of salvation.  Ask God right now for this revelation and wait upon Him.

Let us keep it simple in this time of terrible confusions, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

(Saints, The national midterms are this Tuesday. Take time even right now to agree in prayer together with me that God will preserve “the city set on a hill” that many of our forebears hoped for America.  Vote, yes, but even more PRAY that we will have this relative sanctuary until the believing Church is caught up before the Tribulation begins.  Lord, our God, preserve us a little longer.  Set in place those who at least will do no more evil, and at best will openly serve you.  Protect us from politicians and troops of workers who are in the devil’s ranks.  A little longer, Lord, a little longer.  Come, Lord Jesus!  “Pray for those in authority that we may lead peaceable lives in all godliness.” )

 The New York Times leading story in headline roundup this Sunday morning:  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/us/politics/elections-trump-congress.html?emc=edit_th_181104&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981104
A Nation in Turmoil Prepares to Deliver a Verdict on Trump
LOS LUNAS, N.M. — The tumultuous 2018 midterm campaign, shaped by conflicts over race and identity and punctuated by tragedy, barreled through its final weekend as voters prepared to deliver a verdict on the first half of President Trump’s term, with Republicans bracing for losses in the House and state capitals but hopeful they would prevail in Senate races in areas where Mr. Trump is popular. … …

*** *** ***
The Week —

(October 29)
So much for the pagan pleasures of big, bawdy concerts full of rave, dope and drunkenness?  ISIS threatens meat-cleaver carnage upon them.
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/isis-concert-threats-continue-with-image-of-cleaver-wielding-jihadist/
ISIS Concert Threats Continue with Image of Cleaver-Wielding Jihadist
ISIS-supporting media groups continued a recent rash of online threats against concert venues with a new depiction of a jihadist clad in a hooded sweatshirt wielding a cleaver.
In the last week of September, Al-Abd Al-Faqir Media released a poster depicting a jihadist blending into a crowd wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. As concert-goers face the stage, the jihadist grips a grenade in his right hand.
"We have prepared for you what never crossed your mind, for our goal is to horrify you and terrorize you and harm you," the text read.

***
Bolsonaro rides the wave of nationalist populism, but will he be yet far right of our President who began the wave?  He has made almost hitlerian statements.  It is to a painfully divided and confused world that the Devil will bring in the “peace-making” Antichrist.  What next? It bears watching.

http://news.trust.org/item/20181028230046-ovczz
Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidential race
BRASILIA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy.
With 94 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 percent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE.
"We cannot continue flirting with communism ... We are going to change the destiny of Brazil," Bolsonaro said in an acceptance address in which he vowed to carry out his campaign promises to stamp out corruption after years of leftist rule. … …
***
More and more Silicon Valley technologists are taking the screens away from their own kids, saying “the devil lives in our phones.”  Cutting back may keep little ones from brain-stunting addictions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html?emc=edit_th_181029&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981029
A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley
SAN FRANCISCO — The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them.
A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is O.K.
“Doing no screen time is almost easier than doing a little,” said Kristin Stecher, a former social computing researcher married to a Facebook engineer. “If my kids do get it at all, they just want it more.”
Ms. Stecher, 37, and her husband, Rushabh Doshi, researched screen time and came to a simple conclusion: they wanted almost none of it in their house. Their daughters, ages 5 and 3, have no screen time “budget,” no regular hours they are allowed to be on screens. The only time a screen can be used is during the travel portion of a long car ride (the four-hour drive to Tahoe counts) or during a plane trip. 
Recently she has softened this approach. Every Friday evening the family watches one movie. … …

***
(October 30)
War in the streets —
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-violence-shootings-20181027-story.html
At least 26 people shot on Sunday, the second most violent day of the year in Chicago
CHICAGO saw one of its most violent days of the year Sunday, with 26 people shot over 18 hours, many of them in neighborhoods on the West and South sides.
That level of violence has been surpassed only once before in the city this year: on Aug. 5 when at least 41 people were shot over seven hours. A total of 75 people were shot that weekend, the most violent in Chicago in at least two years.  … …

***
Is their Savior speaking to them in times of trouble? —  Messianic Jews add prayers for the Tree of Life Synagogue.  Christians often equate the Tree of Life in The Garden of Eden with the necessity of the sacrificed Lamb of God, Christ’s death on the Cross (the Tree of Life for us).  Still, many Jews adhere to the doctrines of the Pharisees and reject the Messiahship of Jesus, but many others in these last days have awakened to Him.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/10/30/rabbi-cites-jesus-in-prayer-for-synagogue-victims-with-vice-president-mike-pence/23575579/
Rabbi cites Jesus in prayer for synagogue victims with Vice President Mike Pence
WASHINGTON (AP) — A rabbi invited to pray at a Michigan campaign stop with Vice President Mike Pence on Monday referenced "Jesus the Messiah" at the event.  Rabbi Loren Jacobs of Messianic congregation Shema Yisrael offered prayers for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Messianic Jews follow Jewish law but believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
The major denominations of Judaism reject Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism, and Jacobs' participation was condemned by Jews on social media.
A Pence aide told The Associated Press that Jacobs was invited to pray at the event in suburban Detroit's Waterford Township by GOP congressional candidate Lena Epstein and said Pence did not know who he was when he invited Jacobs back onstage to offer another prayer for the victims, their families and the nation. As Pence stood next to him, Jacobs ended his prayer by saying, "in the name of Jesus." … …

***
(October 31)
They don’t call it “wasted” for nothing.  Instead of letting this Insidious Weed Principality (this leafy green Devil King of DopeHeads) entwine and possess your being, seek instead the indwelling Holy Spirit of the Living God!
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/30/662127406/when-adolescents-give-up-pot-their-cognition-quickly-improves
When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves
Marijuana, it seems, is not a performance-enhancing drug. That is, at least, not among young people, and not when the activity is learning.A study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry finds that when adolescents stop using marijuana – even for just one week – their verbal learning and memory improves. The study contributes to growing evidence that marijuana use in adolescents is associated with reduced neurocognitive functioning. … …
***
Lord God, we pray your mercy on the innocent children who only want the candy, but surely protect them from the devil when he comes as a “pied piper of Hamelin,” leading astray with sweets, or like the witch in Narnia with her box of Turkish Delights.  Christians ought not celebrate this pagan and witches’ high sabbath but candy and “fun” often cloud judgment.  May God put confusion into the hearts and minds of evildoers on this day that harm not come upon the innocents.
https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/after-5-year-old-got-sick-police-investigating-claim-of-possible-drug-laced-candy
After 5-year-old sickened, police investigating claim of possible drug-laced candy
GALION, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — Shortly after getting home from trick-or-treating Sunday 5-year-old Braylen Carwell began having some sort of seizure, and then police say hospital staff found the boy tested positive for methamphetamines in his system. Officers in Galion say they're now investigating after his parents said it must have come from the trick-or-treat candy the boy had been eating shortly before it happened.
“The left side of his face was just droopy and then he fell and then he couldn’t move his left arm. And he didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know what he was doing,” said Braylen’s mother, Julia Pence.  Braylen's father told a responding officer that he'd taken his kids trick-or-treating for about two hours Sunday afternoon, and after getting home and changing, his little boy fell over and began having some sort of seizure. The dad said his son had only had a couple of pieces of candy and was playing with some sort of fake teeth, according to the officer. … …
***
What a joke on the devils of “inclusivity and diversity” it will be if “cultural appropriation” is what kills Halloween!  “What fools these mortals be!”  A reveler cannot costume in anything but his own culture’s/race’s stereotypes.  Why do they not just all climb into shapeless gunny-sacks and mope about?  What idiots, killing their own “inclusivity and diversity” with new rules of segregation!  Hearty belly-laughs at such fools’ paradises!!!

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/413813-cultural-appropriation-turns-halloween-into-a-nightmare
Cultural appropriation turns Halloween into a nightmare
“Cultural appropriation” has become a common term on campuses and is receiving broader meaning with each passing year. In Utah, a high school student was denounced for wearing a Chinese dress to her prom. White students wearing hoop earrings or dreadlocks have been denounced, while there have been protests over serving sushi at Oberlin College, holding yoga classes at the University of Ottawa or having a “Mexican food night” at Clemson University. The reason behind such limitless forms of cultural appropriation is its limitless meaning. Fordham University law professor Susan Scafidi has defined the term as encompassing the “unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols” and more.
That makes Halloween a nightmarish orgy of cultural appropriation. Colleges and universities now post warnings not to dress as Native Americans, geishas, samurai or other stereotypes. Syracuse University even threatened a few years ago to have its campus police force students to remove “offensive” costumes. There is remarkably little debate over such directives because many faculty members fear being labeled as racist or insensitive. What is increasingly rare is any dialogue or willingness to accept that people can hold good faith views on both sides. … …
***
Here we go! In the time of the Great Tribulation, a time will come when men will desire to die and will not be able to (Rev. 9:6); they will have lost the full use of their independent will; are these first brain hacks the beginning of such controlling technologies?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/31/brain-implants-used-treat-parkinsons-can-hacked-experts-warns/
Brain implants used to treat Parkinson's can be hacked and used to control people, scientists warn
Vulnerabilities in brain implants used to treat Parkinson's disease could be hacked by cyber attackers and used to control people, scientists have claimed.
A report by the Oxford Functional Neurosurgery Group and cyber security company Kaspersky claims that people's memories could be exploited by hackers and has called on cyber security companies, manufacturers and healthcare companies to develop new technology to stop them.
Academics have previously warned that brain implants could prevent patients from "speaking or moving, cause irreversible damage to their brain, or even worse, be life-threatening". They claimed that hackers could overload or disable the system, and could damage people's brains. ... …
***
R2D2 arrives onboard?

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/10/31/this-darpa-program-will-give-army-and-marine-aviators-a-robot-co-pilot/
This DARPA program will give Army and Marine aviators a robot co-pilot
Army aviators recently ran helicopters through missions with a kind of robot co-pilot for the first time, using technology a company says will be demonstrated in coming months on Black Hawk helicopters.
The pilots directed an “optionally piloted helicopter” through mission scenarios ranging from obstacle avoidance to contour flight, according to a release.
The pilots used the technology to move a modified commercial helicopter, the S-76B Sikorsky, known as Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft or SARA, through the scenarios designed under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program with Lockheed Martin. … …

***
(November 1)
Right Wing Hungary now introducing AI/robotic border-control lie-detector assessments reminiscent of Communist (Left Wing) China’s accelerating population management surveillances —

https://gizmodo.com/an-ai-lie-detector-is-going-to-start-questioning-travel-1830126881
An AI Lie Detector Is Going to Start Questioning Travelers in the EU
A number of border control checkpoints in the European Union are about to get increasingly—and unsettlingly—futuristic.
In Hungary, Latvia, and Greece, travelers will be given an automated lie-detection test—by an animated AI border agent. The system, called iBorderCtrl, is part of a six-month pilot led by the Hungarian National Police at four different border crossing points.

“We’re employing existing and proven technologies—as well as novel ones—to empower border agents to increase the accuracy and efficiency of border checks,” project coordinator George Boultadakis of European Dynamics in Luxembourg told the European Commission. “iBorderCtrl’s system will collect data that will move beyond biometrics and on to biomarkers of deceit.”
The virtual border control agent will ask travelers questions after they’ve passed through the checkpoint. Questions include, “What’s in your suitcase?” and “If you open the suitcase and show me what is inside, will it confirm that your answers were true?” according to New Scientist. The system reportedly records travelers’ faces using AI to analyze 38 micro-gestures, scoring each response. The virtual agent is reportedly customized according to the traveler’s gender, ethnicity, and language. … …

***
Strange Events to Watch:  Will Khashoggi’s death as a relative innocent be redemptive as a martyr for the suffering Yemenis?  Must the Saudis now relent from this blocking action against Iran in the Iranian client state of Yemen where civilians are slaughtered in the war of attrition against Houthi rebels?  What strange fruit spiritual-matters bring even when they are only imitations of the work of God’s Spirit;  how the powers and principalities do wrestle before Him!  Note the 3 1/2 year time pattern reported here, a time frame that also divides the 7 year term of the final Tribulation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-yemen-cease-fire.html?emc=edit_th_181101&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981101
U.S. and Britain Seek Yemen Cease-Fire as Relations With Saudis Cool
WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain, Saudi Arabia’s biggest arms suppliers, are stepping up their pressure for a cease-fire in the Yemen war, the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster.
The calls for a halt to the conflict — by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday night, his British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt, on Wednesday, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis starting last weekend — came as criticism of Saudi Arabia has surged over its bombing campaign in Yemen and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi writer.
The Saudi-led bombings have been a major cause of civilian deaths and destruction during the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.
“It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction,” Mr. Pompeo said in a statement posted on the State Department website Tuesday night. … …

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction."
 SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO, issuing a statement stepping up pressure for a cease-fire in the Yemen war, the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster.
***
Soros, a rich stooge of the spirit of Antichrist OR a victim of anti-semitism OR a threat to white nationalism OR a globalist, anti-populist, OR none-of-the-above, merely a liberal with hobby-money to spend…a misunderstood philanthropist?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/us/politics/george-soros-bombs-trump.html?emc=edit_th_181101&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981101
How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream
WASHINGTON — Hours after he was informed last week that an explosive device had been delivered to his suburban New York home, George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic donor, got on a call with colleagues to discuss yet another threat: the authoritarian Hungarian government’s crackdown on a university he had founded.
The attempted attack in New York — subsequently determined to have been part of a wave of pipe bombs targeting prominent critics of President Trump — did not come up. But it was no coincidence that Mr. Soros would be facing intense opposition and threats at the same moment in two countries thousands of miles apart.
On both sides of the Atlantic, a loose network of activists and political figures on the right have spent years seeking to cast Mr. Soros not just as a well-heeled political opponent but also as the personification of all they detest. Employing barely coded anti-Semitism, they have built a warped portrayal of him as the mastermind of a “globalist” movement, a left-wing radical who would undermine the established order and a proponent of diluting the white, Christian nature of their societies through immigration.
In the process, they have pushed their version of Mr. Soros, 88, from the dark corners of the internet and talk radio to the very center of the political debate. … …
***
(November 2)
An Interesting Essay on Present Global Situations — The Inescapable Wages of Original Sin?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/world/americas/democracy-brazil-populism.html?emc=edit_th_181102&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981102
The Weaknesses in Liberal Democracy That May Be Pulling It Apart
For anyone curious about the future of democracy, two developments out of Brazil and Germany pose something of a mystery.
The election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil looks too similar to the wave of right-wing, anti-establishment populism sweeping Europe and the United States to be dismissed as coincidence. Mr. Bolsonaro, known for praising his country’s former military dictatorship and insulting minorities and women, has championed anger at Brazil’s establishment by promising strong-fisted rule.
Underscoring the sense of a global shift, within hours of Mr. Bolsonaro’s victory, Angela Merkel, Germany’s longtime chancellor and pillar of European stability, announced she would not seek re-election.
Yet there is no obvious link between Mr. Bolsonaro’s rise and that of Western populists. Figures like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and German populist parties rose by railing against the European Union and immigration, neither of them issues in Brazil. Mr. Bolsonaro rode a backlash against corruption and crime epidemics that are distinctly Latin American.
Maybe Brazil’s election, along with the rest of the populist trend, represents something more disruptive than a single wave with a single point of origin. Research suggests it exemplifies weaknesses and tensions inherent to liberal democracy itself — and that, in times of stress, can pull it apart.
When that happens, voters tend to reject that system in all but name and follow their most basic human instincts toward older styles of government: majoritarian, strong-fisted, us-versus-them rule. … …

***
(November 3)
“Terror in Tallahassee,” NBC Saturday Morning reports.  Three dead including shooter, five wounded in Yoga temple (workout joint) in Tallahassee.  Right on the heels of the synagogue shooting.  So sad that multiple and mass murders are regular daily news now.
***
Chip Implanters catching up with St. John’s Revelation circa 1900 years ago — Revelation 13:16-17:  “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/are-you-ready-for-a-chip-implant
Are you ready for a chip implant?
You walk into a grocery store and pick up eggs. No smartphone? No problem. You swipe your hand across a reader, and the amount is deducted from your bank account.
If that sounds far-fetched, you obviously haven’t been to Sweden recently, where thousands of people have reportedly had chips implanted in their bodies. … …
***
(November 4)
Even the tabloids recognize apocalyptic times — “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Revelation 13:15)

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/740301/god-artificial-intelligence-ai-messiah-dan-rown-da-vinci-code

The end of GOD? Claims humans will ‘worship AI Messiah’

HUMANS will worship at the altar of an Artificially Intelligent God, it has been claimed

It is already predicted that AI will soon be present in all areas of the workplace, with industry experts saying it will eventually do millions of jobs currently done by people.
It is thought that every field – from publishing to factory work – will eventually be dominated by intelligent robots as men and women become increasingly obsolete.
But now experts believe more than jobs are at risk in the Artificial Intelligence revolution.
Novelist Dan Brown previously warned people may no longer worship God or pray to Jesus – instead putting all their faith in an AI messiah.
Speaking about the advent of this technology, the Da Vinci Code writer said: “Humanity no longer needs God but may with the help of artificial intelligence develop a new form of collective consciousness that fulfils the role of religion. … …

*** *** ***

The End of the Matter:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 
Now is come salvation, and strength, 
and the kingdom of our God, 
and the power of his Christ: 
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, 
which accused them before our God day and night.

Revelation 12:10

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

October 28

Saints,

While we “watch Rome burn” and watch the whole world tremble, these times and trials come home to us personally too.  Many of us are faced with seemingly insurmountable trials: our own and our loved ones’ physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and even provision and security as both individual people and families come apart under the pressures (Greek,“tribulation”) of these days and times.  We fail often.  Only the Cross can keep any of us lifted up and going on.  Beyond the Cross, we have the Comfort of the Holy Spirit and the promise/earnest/downpayment of the pure, new world of God that is coming.  In spite of all our present trials, we can spiritually “feel” the Resurrection at work in us!  But for now, we must cling earnestly to the Cross and to the One Who died on it for us, receiving the salvation of his Blood, the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world, and the Resurrection Comfort-Sent-Down of the Holy Spirit:  “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you…Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (St. John 14:16-18, 27)

***
The Week —

(October 21)
Good! May Our God grant it!  This Gender Nonsense and Confusion is dehumanizing the oncoming “pink, purple, blue, green-haired” generation.  Since the Beginning, Gender is identified as biological fact of male and female.  To think to change this with semantics is a spiel/spell of fallen-angel witchcraft and perverted zeitgeist propaganda.  Just this week, Hal Lindsey in his newsletter mentioned that only .3 percent (“not 3 percent but point three percent”) make the claim to this delusion, yet all of ”progressive” hell wants to make us all conform to this baloney “civil right.”  Even more than “the genitals that a person is born with,” Gender is written in the DNA of every cell in a human’s body.  Cutting, pasting, and re-dressing the body won’t change that and brings on a delusion that often ends in other mental illnesses and delusions and high suicide rates, often blamed on “everybody else” who won’t see it their way.  Among so called transgenders, many often return to their original orientation, even if they have been surgically hacked or are merely cross-dressing.  Illusion will not work over time.  (P.S: Network news on the evening of the 22nd showed only very close-up views of a demonstration outside the White House gates.  Reported as significant by the Press, it looked to be an agitator count in the low 20’s with camera shots made only right into the middle of the little group of sign-toters.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998ries&ref=cta
‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out Of Existence Under Trump Administration
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law.
A series of decisions by the Obama administration loosened the legal concept of gender in federal programs, including in education and health care, recognizing gender largely as an individual’s choice and not determined by the sex assigned at birth. The policy prompted fights over bathrooms, dormitories, single-sex programs and other arenas where gender was once seen as a simple concept. Conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, were incensed.
Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.
The department argued in its memo that key government agencies needed to adopt an explicit and uniform definition of gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” The agency’s proposed definition would define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with, according to a draft reviewed by The Times. Any dispute about one’s sex would have to be clarified using genetic testing. … …

***
(October 22)
Far, “far right” populist, threatening violence, having survived assassination-attempt injuries, appears poised to win Brazilian presidency — video reporting

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000006150253/bolsonaro-brazil-election-far-right.html?emc=edit_th_181022&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981022
This Far Right Politician Could be Brazil’s Next President

Globally, Far Right and Far Left Continue Tribal Polarizations.  Innocents suffer —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/world/americas/migrants-caravan-mexico.html?emc=edit_th_181022&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981022
Migrant Caravan Continues North, Defying Mexico and U.S.
TAPACHULA, Mexico — In open defiance of the Mexican and American governments, thousands of Central American undocumented migrants, most of a caravan that has been heading toward the United States for more than a week, resumed their journey on Sunday in southern Mexico.
The Mexican government, which has been under pressure by President Trump to stop the caravan, had ordered the migrants to submit to processing by the immigration authorities at a legal border crossing.
But thousands chose instead to move on — part of a group of people who had been stopped at the Mexican border this week after having traveled for several days, most from their homes in Honduras.
Most of the migrants on the move on Sunday — by one local government estimate more than 7,000 people — had crossed the border illegally in recent days by swimming or rafting across the Suchiate River, which separates Guatemala from Mexico.
They gathered in the central square in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Hidalgo on Saturday and voted by a show of hands to continue their journey north despite their undocumented status.
“We want to get to the United States,” said Maria Irias Rodriguez, 17, a migrant from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who was traveling with her 8-month-old daughter, 2-year-old son and husband. “If they stop us now, we’ll just come back a second time.”
She said she had waited at the border until mid-Saturday but became desperate at how long it was taking to be processed.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Trump took to Twitter again to address the caravan, saying that those migrants seeking asylum must first apply in Mexico. “If they fail to do that, the U.S. will turn them away,” he said. … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/world/europe/italy-schools-league.html?emc=edit_th_181022&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981022
Italy’s Tough Line on Immigrants Reaches a School Cafeteria
LODI, Italy — At the beginning of the school year, as most of the elementary students chatted over warm plates of pasta in the cafeteria, about a dozen immigrant children unwrapped sandwiches around three tables in a spare classroom with slanted purple blinds, drab office furniture and a form reading, “Students who bring lunch from home.”
“I wanted to go back to the cafeteria,” said Khadiga Gomaa, a 10-year-old Egyptian girl.
Khadiga and the others did not belong to an Italian breakfast club of poorly behaved students. They were segregated from the rest of the pupils at Lodi’s Archinti school because they had lost their daily lunch subsidy.
And that was because they failed to meet a new, and critics say punitive, requirement introduced by the town’s mayor, a member of the governing and anti-immigrant League party. … …

***
Russia v. Ukraine, The Literal Battleground of National Orthodox Churches —
https://apnews.com/916f1eb16da24aedace5c39e9f13f94f
Birth of a new Ukrainian church brings fears of violence
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The rough-looking young men brought clubs and brass knuckles to the Pechersk Monastery in Kiev, one of Orthodox Christianity’s most important pilgrimage sites, apparently seeking to disrupt worship. Police spread-eagled them against a wall decorated in faded centuries-old frescos of solemn saints, then hauled them away.  On the other side of the dispute, at a small church in the center of Kiev, a dozen men organized round-the-clock guard duty, worried that nationalist radicals might make their third attempt in a year to seize the place of worship. … …
***
(October 23)
Monster Hurricane About to Assault Mexico?  Will it also track over the invading marchers?  God save.

https://www.wunderground.com/news/storms/hurricane/news/2018-10-22-hurricane-willa-pacific-ocean-mexico-landfall
Major Hurricane Willa to Make Landfall in Mexico Tuesday With Destructive Winds, Storm Surge and Flooding Rain
Any doubt some of the marchers are invaders bent on overthrow? Or is everything, everywhere “fake news”?
https://www.infowars.com/hondurans-paint-swastika-on-american-flag-set-it-on-fire-wave-honduran-flags-give-us-the-finger/
HONDURANS PAINT SWASTIKA ON AMERICAN FLAG, SET IT ON FIRE; WAVE HONDURAN FLAGS, GIVE US THE FINGER
***
UK Parliament bans references to “fake news” — “Yeah, that’ll fix it!”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/22/government-bans-phrase-fake-news/
Government bans phrase 'fake news' 
The government has banned the term “fake news” after urging ministers to use “misinformation” or "disinformation" instead.
The phrase - a favourite of US President Donald Trump - will no longer appear in policy documents or official papers because it is “a poorly-defined and misleading term that conflates a variety of false information, from genuine error through to foreign interference in democratic processes,” officials said.
While ministers may speak freely in the House of Commons, any strategy documents referring to election meddling or internet safety will need to use the new definition. … …
***
So, it is any wonder our blue/green/orange/purple-haired students can no longer think well enough to score well on tests? Do they bleach and dye their own brains too? …the “dumbing down,” dehumanizing of humanity to serve the Beast?  Plastic People, “Don’t know nuffin’ ‘bout history, biology, geography, math…nuffin’”?  God save…a remnant!

https://pjmedia.com/trending/thanks-common-core-act-scores-for-class-of-2018-worst-in-decades/
Thanks, Common Core: ACT Scores for Class of 2018 Worst in Decades
The creators of the ACT test announced on Wednesday that scores for the class of 2018 are the worst reported in decades. Math scores, in fact, are in freefall among ACT-tested U.S. high school graduates, falling to their lowest mark in 14 years, according to The Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018, the ACT’s annual report.
The report includes ACT test results from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
"The percentage of ACT-tested graduates who met or surpassed the ACT College Readiness Benchmark in math—suggesting they are ready to succeed in a first-year college algebra class—fell to its lowest level since 2004," the report declared, with only 40 percent of 2018 graduates meeting the benchmark, "down from a high of 46% in 2012." … …
***
“UN” propagandists decide to muscle France —
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6306593/Frances-ban-body-Islamic-veil-violates-human-rights-U-N-rights-panel.html
France's niqab ban 'violates' human rights, UN declares as it demands compensation for women 'confined at home and marginalised'
***
Tempting God? The name “Titanic” refers to the Titans, the Greek version of the superhero humans / fallen-angel hybrids called in Hebrew the Nephilim which God destroyed with the Flood along with all the genetically infected/original-sin humans.  The captain of the first Titanic reputedly said, “Even God couldn’t sink this ship.”  Shortly thereafter, she went down on her maiden voyage in 1912.  Is another ship of fools going to launch — from Dubai, a babylon of wealth?
http://www.fox5ny.com/news/new-titanic-will-sail-from-dubai-in-2022
New Titanic will reportedly set sail in 2022
Plans are continuing to launch a new Titanic.
A replica of the infamous ship dubbed the Titanic II is set to make its first voyage in 2022, thanks to Australian billionaire Clive Palmer, who's fronting a group called Blue Star Line.
Blue Star Line is trying to create an authentic Titanic experience, providing passengers with a ship that has the same interiors and cabin layout as the original vessel, while adding modern safety procedures and 21st century technology. … …
***
(October 24)
This morning Drudge links set the numbers of the invaders at 14,000.  But what amount of “fake news” surrounds the whole event?  Just observing the Press reports, I see many of the same scenes reported over and over as fresh news.  Also, if most are walking, but some are catching rides on trains, busses, under and on semis, how can “the march” have any identifiable integrity as one?  Apparently, just the intent is supposed to satisfy any questioning, reasoning, or observation.  Also, the distances supposedly walked per day are improbable considering the children, aged, and sick.  May God grant to our leaders the power to maintain sovereignty over the nation, for if the dam bursts, all may be lost and very quickly…seeing we are already swamped in so many areas.  I pray the end of the United States will not come until the believing saints are caught up, and may God yet use the remaining glory of the Tribulation Saints to let the nation go out in a blaze of glory (maybe defending Israel from the flood of Satan on the wings of a great eagle, Revelation 12:14?), and not go out in pools of debauched moral sewage, before a national end comes.  Will America be a redeemed nation in the Millennial Kingdom, or will the contents of this great “melting pot”  American Experience be given back to other and more ancient nations?  “Time will Tell,” but is The Time at hand?

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/23/mexican-news-outlet-officials-say-14000-honduran-migrants-heading-to-u-s/
Mexican News Outlet: Officials Say 14,000 Honduran Migrants Heading to U.S.

***
(October 25)
Is this some kind of sick joke — sophisticated-looking bombs but that don’t explode, not one of them?  Is some right-wing joker making a comedy and a parody of the way left-wing activists and “antifa” thugs are threatening conservatives when they try to go to restaurants, be at home, play a Congressional baseball game, etc?  What a horrible world; may God protect us until the saints are taken up, and what terrible carnages will come after that!

http://news.trust.org/item/20181024233508-re9t7
Obama, Clinton among targets of suspected bombs ahead of U.S. election
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among the targets of suspected package bombs delivered to several high-profile Democrats and CNN, which the FBI said it was investigating as an act of terrorism.
At least eight suspicious parcels were intercepted before reaching any intended recipients, including Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, former CIA Director John Brennan and prominent Democratic Party donor George Soros.
Two packages were sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the FBI said. Investigators were trying to track down another suspicious parcel they believe was addressed to Obama's vice president, Joe Biden, a federal official told Reuters late on Wednesday.
None of the eight packages detonated, and nobody was hurt. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. ... …

(Evening News of October 26, a suspect is caught in Florida.  Rather than a super-joker of high planning trying to make some kind of point, the accused seems to be simply a right wing zealot, acting-out on conspiracy theories and venues of xenophobia.  Thank God, no bombs have gone off, no one is killed or injured.  As this man will surely disappear behind concrete walls forever, may God show him the Truth of Christ the gentle Lamb and save him too.)
***
Was Hurricane Willa a Warning to Marching Invaders?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/willa-torrential-rains-mexico-tropical-storm-today-2018-10-24/
One-time Hurricane Willa dumping heavy rain on Mexico, on path for U.S.
		
MAZATLAN, Mexico -- Hurricane Willa lost power rapidly overnight after roaring over a stretch of beach towns, fishing villages and farms on Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds.
By 2 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Willa to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
By 5 a.m., Willa was a tropical depression with top sustained winds of 30 mph. 
The hurricane center said Willa was about 75 miles east-northeast of Durango, Mexico, racing northeast at 25 mph.
The center predicted the storm would dissipate altogether by afternoon as it moved farther inland over west-central and northern Mexico.  
Nonetheless, it forecast "additional rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches with maximum totals of 6 inches possible from eastern Durango, northern Zacateca and southern Coahuila.
"This rain will cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the center warned. … …
***
Hmmm!?  Chocolate traced to a wise, experimenting arborist a few thousand years back!  Like Solomon (circa 900-1000 B.C.), who was a master botanist (and overall scientist), this fellow must’ve caught a hint of the flavor and bred it into a produced crop.  Even with the evolutionary viewpoints of the writers and genetic researchers and their time lines, this one slips through as the skilled work of humans.  It fits within biblical Creation timelines, likely occurring only about 3600 hundred years ago at researcher’s best guess.  Guess Everybody likes chocolate!

https://newatlas.com/cocoa-evolutionary-history-domestication/56945/?
Scientists trace the evolution of cocoa to breed better chocolate
***
Psychedelics unlock views of life, the universe, philosophy unknown to the normative human consciousness.  But they are a doorway to the fallen spiritual realm, while God reveals Himself only by faith in his Word, a gift to those whom He calls (Eph. 2:8-9).  Psychedelic revelations instead whisper “ye shall be as gods,” Lucifer’s seductive offer in Genesis 3.  They are doors of what the Bible calls “sorcery,” the Greek “pharmakeia.”  Playing with them scientifically, for therapy, only opens the doors of perception a little more slowly, but what rages there is not a toy or a tool (except for destruction).

https://newatlas.com/psilocybin-magic-mushrooms-depression-fda-breakthrough-therapy/56928/?
Psychedelic psilocybin therapy for depression granted Breakthrough Therapy status by FDA
In an extraordinary step forward for the psychedelic drug research community, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just given psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression a Breakthrough Therapy designation. This classification suggests the treatment has demonstrated significant potential in early clinical evidence, allowing the FDA to assist and expedite subsequent development and review processes. … …
***
Thursday Evening PBS News Announces “Super-Typhoon” with 180 mph+ sustained winds hits the Marianas Islands, a US Territory of Tinian and Saipan Islands.  On the Hurricane Scale, Yutu’s highest gusts at well over 200 mph would exceed the 1-5 rating scale and would be a “Force 6” hurricane.
A USAToday link:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/24/noaa-super-typhoon-yutu-strongest-storm-ever-hit-u-s-soil/1759327002/
Deadly Super Typhoon Yutu strongest storm to ever hit US territory, second strongest to hit US overall
HAGATNA, Guam – With sustained winds of 178 mph as its eye passed directly over the tiny U.S. island of Tinian early Thursday, Super Typhoon Yutu was the strongest storm on record to ever hit a U.S. territory, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.It was also the second-strongest storm on record to ever hit any part of the United States, trailing only the 185-mph hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935, according to the Weather Underground.Tinian is one of the Northern Marinas Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the South Pacific Ocean with a population of 52,000 people. Saipan is the other major island in the commonwealth. The storm has killed one person, a 44-year-old woman who had tried to take shelter in an abandoned building on Tinian that collapsed, the governor’s office said. Tinian suffered a direct hit, National Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Aydlett said. “This is the worst-case scenario. This is why the building codes in the Marianas are so tough,” he said. “This is going to be the storm which sets the scale for which future storms are compared to.” … …
***
(October 26)
Getting your brain all wired up to the harnesses of life-in-the-Borg?  Using your individuality for (or against?) you—
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6316835/Your-THOUGHTS-password-researchers-say.html
Your THOUGHTS could be your next password, researchers say
	•	A brain password is a digital reading of brain activity while looking at images
	•	Study found every person's brain responds differently to external stimulus
	•	Even if two people look at the same photograph, brain activity will be different
***
Propaganda Saturation:  Pushing Sodom on Everyone?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/broadcast-tv-hits-record-percentage-lgbtq-regulars-1154545
Broadcast TV Hits Record Percentage of LGBTQ Regulars, Study Finds
***
This “#Yutu Moment” gives us opportunity to ask God for mercy for these Pacific Americans.  This potent superstorm utterly levels the Mariana Islands.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/24/noaa-super-typhoon-yutu-strongest-storm-ever-hit-u-s-soil/1759327002/
Deadly Super Typhoon Yutu strongest storm to ever hit US territory, second strongest to hit US overall
…”Tinian has been devastated by Typhoon Yutu," the city's mayor Joey P. San Nicolas said Thursday. "The homes, main roads have been destroyed. Our critical infrastructure has been compromised. We currently have no power and water. Our ports at this time are inaccessible and several points within the island are inaccessible."
The island's "power distribution system is completely destroyed,” San Nicolas said.
Yutu's trail of destruction may not be over yet as it continues to trek west over the western Pacific Ocean: The monstrous storm still has winds of 161 mph, gusting to 195 mph, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. It could plow into Taiwan or the Philippines next week, the center said. … …(emphasis added)
***
(October 27)
Jesus called the devil “the father of the lie” (John 8:44) —  What can we expect from NBC?  …And a strutting lawyer so self-entranced he now proposes to run for President of the United States? Time behind bars, more appropriate?  God keep us from delusions!

https://www.dailywire.com/news/37637/nbc-sat-information-undermined-brett-kavanaugh-ashe-schow
NBC Sat On Information That Undermined Brett Kavanaugh Accusers
In yet another stunning display of media bias, NBC nows acknowledges that it had information that undermined the credibility of some of the women who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, but didn’t report it at the time.
On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) referred celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department. Swetnick, in a sworn statement, accused Kavanaugh of drinking too much, acting aggressive toward women, spiking the punch at parties and orchestrating teenage gang-rapes. Her claims were ludicrous on their face, but the left-leaning media – eager to torpedo Kavanaugh’s nomination for fear he could be the deciding vote in overturning Roe v. Wade – ran with them anyway.
NBC was the worst offender. The network interviewed Swetnick even though it said up front it couldn’t verify her claims. This is Journalism Malpractice 101; you don’t put out possibly defamatory information you can’t verify. Of course, the media was totally okay with doing this if it meant keeping Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court. They didn’t care about the consequences to his family or his reputation.
NBC interviewed Swetnick on October 1. At the time, she backtracked on her key claims regarding Kavanaugh, and undermined her own story. Once her story crumbled, Avenatti released a second sworn statement from an unnamed woman, alleging almost identical claims as Swetnick. … …
***
“Post-apocalyptic” scenes in Venezuela —
https://www.france24.com/en/20181026-crime-crisis-turn-caracas-streets-dark-deserted
Crime and crisis turn Caracas streets dark and deserted
CARACAS (AFP) - 
Crime and a grinding economic crisis have turned the traditionally vibrant, teeming streets of Caracas into no man's land once the sun goes down.
Major thoroughfares like the Francisco Fajardo highway were empty during recent nighttime drives by AFP. Hardly any cars drove past the Esfera de Soto, a giant, suspended artwork in the shape of an orange sphere, that is iconic for this troubled city of six million people.
Nor was there much traffic on Libertador Avenue, which joins east and west Caracas, and in the working class district of La Candelaria in the city center hardly any pedestrians were out and about. And those that were walked very fast. … …
***
Wow.  While neither a fan nor a detractor,  I am stunned at how suddenly the mighty (famous, rich, performers, etc.) fall…and all over a perhaps misplaced, casual, conversational  comment!?  Remember, so shortly ago, how Moonves fell, all due to his in-house (not published, off-screen, day-to-day-in-the-office) editor’s dressing-down of an underling reporter named Jericka.  (Keep an eye on her. How enmeshed is high-level “craft” involved in these sudden “sacrifices”?)  Media workers must be stressed to the max these days.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6320437/Black-employees-NBC-hurt-Megyn-Kelly-playing-MeToo-card-collect-69M-payout.html
'This is the worst white privilege I have ever seen': Black NBC staffers 'deeply hurt' that Megyn Kelly is playing the #MeToo card to collect her $69M payout after blackface remarks

P.S. I penned my above “wow” only to find shortly after, in surfing NYTimes headlines this a.m., that “wow” is how Megyn Kelly summed it up too.  
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/business/media/megyn-kelly-today-canceled-nbc.html? 
Megan Kelly’s Crash at NBC in One Word (Hers): ‘Wow’

Here also is a line from an interview with Jerry Seinfeld on the suddenness of media “decapitations” these days:  
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/arts/television/jerry-seinfeld-interview.html?emc=edit_th_181027&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981027
…Before the revelations of his crimes, was Bill Cosby someone you had admired? I totally did. But when that happens, that’s too big a safe falling out of a window to ignore. The crash is too loud. The thing I think that’s new for people — let’s take Roseanne and Cosby — is the suddenness and the precipitous fall. So much work, gone so fast. We’re upset at the speed of it, because it’s new. I would say about Roseanne, I never saw anything that bad happen from a finger-tap on a screen. A whole career: gone. That’s an aspect of this unease we feel, that you just wake up — “Oh, by the way, the Lincoln Memorial’s gone.” “What?” “Yeah, they took it down. They found out Lincoln was fooling around and they took it down.” “Oh, my God. All right, I guess I have to adjust to that. I really liked the Lincoln Memorial.”
***
“Livin’ the Dream” / or is it The Nightmare?  Hi-Tech Sci-Fi Surveillance Scenarios Arriving —
Armed drones, iris scanners: China's high-tech security gadgets

BEIJING (AFP) - From virtual reality police training programmes to gun-toting drones and iris scanners, a public security expo in China showed the range of increasingly high-tech tools available to the country's police.
The exhibition, which ran Tuesday to Friday in Beijing, emphasised surveillance and monitoring technology just as the Communist government's domestic security spending has skyrocketed.
Facial-recognition screens analysing candid shots of conference attendees were scattered around the exhibition hall, while other vendors packed their booths with security cameras. … …
***
Here we go again!  The Florida bomber barely caught Friday, and now an anti-semite right winger shoots up a synagogue by Saturday/Sabbath Day afternoon.  Eleven dead, more wounded including four responding police officers.  “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the LORD God:  Where turn yourselves, and live ye.”  This is The Almighty encouraging the lost to be saved via his prophet Ezekiel in 18:32.  (And I have no pleasure in reporting these onslaughts, but it must be done that some may heed.  “Preach the gospel, in season, out of season.”  Only Christ is the Tree of Life.  He is “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile,” but He must be received in this life — “…And as it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27)

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/10/27/heavy-police-presence-near-synagogue-in-squirrel-hill/
11 Dead, Several Others Shot At Pittsburgh Synagogue
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Eleven people have been killed and a number of others injured after a shooting at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday.
Police sources tell KDKA’s Andy Sheehan the gunman walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.” Sheehan’s sources confirmed that eleven people were dead. He was reportedly armed with an AR-15 and two handguns.
When officers arrived, the gunman reportedly shot at them, forcing officers to use their vehicles as a shield.
He also credited the first responders with preventing this from being a bigger tragedy than it already is.
KDKA’s Meghan Schiller reports that a suspect, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered. The SWAT team had been talking with the suspect, and he was crawling and injured. It is unclear the extent of his injuries.
KDKA sources confirm Sheehan that the suspect is 48-year-old Robert Bowers. It is believed that he acted alone.
“I will emphasize at this time that there appears to be no active threat to the community. We believe the subject that is responsible for this has been taken into custody,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said.
Hissrich said at least six other people were injured, including four police officers. The officers’ injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. However, two of the officers were listed in critical condition. One officer is out of surgery and doctors are optimistic.
The other two civilian victims were last listed in critical and serious condition.
A total of five patients were taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. As of 1:30 p.m., three were in surgery and one is stable and awaiting surgery. The fifth person was treated and released. … …

***
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adl-statement-on-synagogue-shooting-in-pittsburgh-300739048.html
ADL Statement On Synagogue Shooting In Pittsburgh
NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt released the following statement in response to the horrific and fatal anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh today. 
"Our hearts break for the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and for the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh. This is likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States (emphasis added). We are actively engaged with law enforcement to support their investigation and call on authorities to investigate this as a hate crime.

***
(October 28)
Ireland drops blasphemy law to “modernize,” while the EU essentially disallows any less than worshipful terms for Islam’s heroes?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ireland-set-to-overturn-constitutional-ban-on-blasphemy-1540626649
Ireland Votes to Overturn Constitutional Ban on Blasphemy
The decision reflects the waning influence of the Catholic Church in a quickly changing country
Ireland has voted to remove a reference to blasphemy as a punishable offense from the country’s constitution, paving the way for repeal of a law that criminalizes public utterances judged offensive to religious sensibilities. … …

https://www.foxnews.com/world/defaming-muhammad-does-not-fall-under-purview-of-free-speech-european-court-rules
Defaming Muhammad does not fall under purview of free speech, European court rules
The freedom of speech does not extend to include defaming the prophet of Islam, the European Court of Human rights ruled Thursday.
The Strasbourg-based ECHR ruled that insulting Islamic prophet Muhammad “goes beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate” and “could stir up prejudice and put at risk religious peace.” … …
***

*** *** ***

Come, my people, 
enter thou into thy chambers, 
and shut thy doors about thee: 
hide thyself as it were for a little moment, 
until the indignation be overpast.
The Prophet Isaiah, 26:20

Peace I leave with you, 
my peace I give unto you: 
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid.
Jesus, through the testimony of his witness John, 14:27

**************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

October 21

Saints,

The Earth shakes with civilization-destroying events: the massive hurricane hitting the Carolinas and the southeast region, the more-furious-yet Panhandle hurricane, and the devastation of the Indonesian earthquakes and tidal waves.  Meanwhile coastal Texas and island Puerto Rico still stagger to recover from last year’s crops of disaster, and even this week again, Texas is under severe 39’ flood stages on central rivers with massive devastation. And fire affects the West often; and so parades of disasters move round the planet.  Says the Lord, there shall be “waves of the sea roaring, and men’s hearts failing them for fear at the things coming on the Earth” (Luke 21:25-26). Isaiah speaks for God (1 Peter 1:20-21), saying, “The Earth reels to and fro like a drunkard” (see Isaiah 24:20).  Is this because of the 23 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis which keeps us always out of balance with strong seasonal shifts, and does it also affect the whole “health” of the planet, contributing to earthquakes and many natural catastrophes and disasters?  Is this tilt the result of an ancient war in the heavenlies? Maybe.  We do not have sufficient biblical evidence to posit details with authority.  Did the Flood instead set these contrary motions in order?  Many things will be shown to us in That Day.  But for now, Who will hear?  Only those who take heed to the Word, and watch and wait upon the Lord.  For many others, in the midst of these days but still personally unaffected, will fulfill the prophecy of Peter: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2P3:3-4&ff).  Let us instead take heart, for even their unbelief is proof of God’s Word.

(Note:  Saints, Please remain strongly admonished to remember that the links I present are from what the world is telling us and representing to us.  Because of biblical prophecy, I present them for your consideration, watchful and prayerful.  Many of them come from political conservatism viewpoints too, but not all of them.  Some are from “progressive” writers and politicos, and some are merely “neutral” “scientific” news, etc.  We know in these days, that we are being played (with “fake new”) with various “tribal” temptations and xenophobias to herd us this way and that.  Ultimately, these are the works of powerful and potent fallen angels, the false gods of various historical pantheons — Canaanite, Syrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, etc.— who are determined to work their will on humanity.  But penultimately (next door to ultimately), we are targeted by the flesh of human leaders, groups, and movements that all, at one level or another, want to rule the world and execute their wills on everyone else.  We who bow to the Bible have one overruling advantage over our fellow mortals:  we have the very Word of God, guaranteed to us by Him, by which to observe and measure events against his Great Plans of the Ages.  He alone knows the End from the Beginning!  Blessed be He for his love and mercy toward us and for giving us the Way to have fellowship with Him!  “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”  “What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch.”  “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

Maranatha!  The Lord is at hand!  Even so, come, Lord Jesus!)

(A present moment:  How “troll armies” work: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/us/politics/saudi-image-campaign-twitter.html?emc=edit_th_181021&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981021  )

***

The Week —
(October 15)

On the AI Revolution and the “evolution” of the beast of Revelation 13:14-15 — “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:  the LORD shall have them in derision,” Psalm 2:4.  “Artificial” is artificial.  Only the Creator makes real Life.

NYTimes Quotation of the Day —
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"The brain is by far the most complex piece of highly excitable matter in the known universe by any measure. We don’t even understand the brain of a worm."
CHRISTOF KOCH, the chief scientist and president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, explaining some of the challenges involved in artificial intelligence design.
***
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel…” says Paul in Romans 1:16, but it is not new that we are too often intimidated by the size of the world and its ways under “the god of this world,” the devil.  This is not really a new trial, but these thoughts are an interesting take on the issues.  A provocative read. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to counter our failures and weaknesses, but the Spirit of God will prevail, even in us!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/opinion/sunday/talk-god-sprituality-christian.html?emc=edit_th_181015&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981015
It’s Getting Harder to Talk About God
The decline in our spiritual vocabulary has many real-world consequences.
By Jonathan Merritt
Mr. Merritt writes about the intersection of religion, culture and politics.
Oct. 13, 2018
More than 70 percent of Americans identify as Christian, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to them. An overwhelming majority of people say that they don’t feel comfortable speaking about faith, most of the time.
During the Great Depression, the playwright Thornton Wilder remarked, “The revival in religion will be a rhetorical problem — new persuasive words for defaced or degraded ones.” Wilder knew that during times of rapid social change, God-talk is often difficult to muster.
We may have traded 1930s-level poverty and hunger for a resurgence in racism, sexism and environmental cataclysm, but our problems are no less serious — or spiritually disorienting. While many of our most visible leaders claim to be religious, their moral frameworks seem unrecognizable to masses of other believers. How do we speak about God in times like these when God is hard to spot?
As a student of American Christianity and the son of a prominent megachurch pastor, I’ve been sensing for some time that sacred speech and spiritual conversation are in decline. But this was only a hunch I had formed in response to anecdotal evidence and personal experience. I lacked the quantitative data needed to say for sure. … …

concluding sentence:  Christians in 21st-century America now face our own serious “rhetorical problem.” We must work together to revive sacred speech and rekindle confidence in the vocabulary of faith. If we cannot rise to this occasion, sacred speech will continue its rapid decline — and the worst among us will continue to define what the word “Christian” means.

***
(October 16)
“Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie”?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/business/sears-bankruptcy-plan.html?emc=edit_th_181016&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981016

Sears Plan to Get Out of Bankruptcy Has a Familiar Ring
In its bankruptcy filing on Monday, Sears argued that, given enough time and less debt, it would be able to reverse the decades-long decline of its retail business.
But the company’s latest turnaround plan looks a lot like its previous turnaround plans: close unprofitable stores, sell properties and borrow more money from the company’s chairman and largest investor, Edward S. Lampert.
Missing from that plan was any explanation of how Sears would gain the ground it had lost to big-box stores like Walmart and the e-commerce giant Amazon. In 2005, Sears had 2 percent of all retail sales. It now accounts for less than 0.3 percent, according to Customer Growth Partners, a research firm.
“Honestly, Sears is essentially dead already,” said Gerald L. Storch, the former chief executive of Toys “R” Us and Hudson’s Bay, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue. “Maybe it limps along for while. But it is walking zombie.
As part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, Sears says it will close 142 unprofitable stores, or about 20 percent of what remains of its once vast footprint that also includes the discount retailer Kmart. The company also plans to sell its Kenmore and Home Services brands.
Those cuts would come on top of the 1,000 stores the company closed in the past decade, and the sale of brands like Lands’ End, Craftsman and Sears Canada. … …
***
Our Age Winding Down?  We won’t miss the mosquitoes, but the honeybee loss might be apocalyptic.

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Hyperalarming-study-shows-massive-insect-loss-13308742.php
'Hyperalarming' study shows massive insect loss
Insects around the world are in a crisis, according to a small but growing number of long-term studies showing dramatic declines in invertebrate populations. A new report suggests that the problem is more widespread than scientists realized. Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico, the study found, and the forest's insect-eating animals have gone missing, too.
In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves. … …
***
Jibber-Jabber and “Jibber-Jabber about Jibber-Jabber”  Living on and on without the sin-and-evil-problem solved will be a living death, the portal of hell, and finally landing ultra-life-extending participants in the Lake of Fire forever.  It is God’s MERCY to set the present average lifespan at “three score and ten, and if by reason of strength, fourscore” (Psalm 90:10). There is only One Door (John 10) to the immortality of Heaven and endless joy, the Savior sent down from Heaven, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world (John 1:29)…for whosoever will (John 3:16).  And a few years added here or there in sinful Flesh down here will mean worse than nothing then.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/736767/human-being-immortal-artificial-intelligence-humai
Humans beings on the brink of IMMORTALITY, top scientist claims
HUMAN beings becoming immortal is a step closer following the launch of a new start-up.
Dr Ian Pearson has previously said people will have the ability to “not die” by 2050 – just over 30 years from now.
Two of the methods he said humans might use were “body part renewal” and linking bodies with machines so that people are living their lives through an android.
But after Dr Pearson’s predictions, immortality may now be a step nearer following the launch of a new start-up. … …
***
(October 17)
Wow!  Faraday, one of “the Greats” among scientists humbly attests to the glory of God seen in the endless discoveries of the natural world, shown by Paul in Romans 1:19-20 (not to mention David, Solomon and others).

Today's Update: The Invisible Things are Clearly Seen
(bereancall.org for October 16)
Yet even in earthly matters I believe that "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead," and I have never seen anything incompatible between those things of man which can be known by the spirit of man which is within him, and those higher things concerning his future, which he cannot know by that spirit.
﻿--Michael Faraday (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was a British scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

***
Though we are to be diligent stewards and shepherds of the church, it is God that nourishes and keeps his truly faithful people, both individually and corporately.  CEO management and big production entertainment is Flesh and will apostasize and fade away as Flesh.  Jesus would never let the multitudes put Him on their shoulders with lots of “rah-rah” and parade Him around with their fleshly energy, not then, not now.  Another good forward from bereancall.org.  Check them out.

Today's Update: Farewell, Willow Creek: Where the “Regular” Churches Can Go From Here
for October 17, 2018
It looks like the beginning of the end at Willow Creek. They aren’t saying that, but I feel like that’s what’s happening. If so, good riddance.
Stanley Hauerwas said that the church growth movement was “the death gurgle of a church that had lost its way.”
After decades of believing churches like Willow Creek had discovered the antidote, after 25 years of copying, emulating, strategizing, and leadership conferencing, we’re finding out that we’ve built our behemoth, nondescript church buildings on the sand like the foolish people we are.
We should have known all along. Celebrity pastors cannot possibly be good shepherds to their people.
Attractional worship is only entertainment, nothing more. A fast food version of Jesus can never be the real version of Jesus.
The church growth movement leads to a bloated, unhealthy body of people who don’t really understand what they’ve signed up for. The Pastor as CEO idea will always fail, often with far-reaching, disastrous results.
Big churches are not good role models for the rest of our churches. In fact, their methods will ruin us, too, if we’re not careful.
Though Willow Creek and those like it may crumble and fall, the church will go on. God will preserve it, and none else can stop it. We know that the cosmic renewal, redemption, and restoration has already begun, set in motion by God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ.
(Aigner, “Farewell, Willow Creek: Where the ‘Regular’ Churches Can Go From Here,” Patheos Online, 8/10/18).
***
Is the world going to sleep under the spell of cannabis?  The “Trojan Horse” of dope takes over the whole of Canada at one fell swoop under the Prime Ministership of Trudeau.  Now, a major, industrialized “first world nation” goes to Pot all at once.  What next?  …as opioids kills legions daily in the U.S.A.  John prophesied well that at the End of the Age, the spirit of Mystery Babylon would deceive all nations by her sorceries >  Gr., pharmakeia > modern English idiom = dope, mind-altering, entrancing, and addictive drugs (Revelation 18:23).  Now it comes on!
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/17/health/canada-legalizes-recreational-marijuana/index.html
Canada just legalized recreational pot. Here's what you need to know
Marijuana is now legal across Canada 01:37
(CNN)People in Canada are cheering, enduring long lines and honking their car horns in support as the country’s first marijuana dispensaries open their doors Wednesday.
***
(October 18)
Whew!  A liberal reporter as a mole gets into the “CNP” (Council for National Policy) Conference, which, new to me as a babe-in-the-woods on political events, is apparently the conservative answer to the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) which has been for years a target that evangelicals identify as a front organization for the spirit of antichrist.  I think Bible Christians should be ever vigilant in their compromises with politics, but it is interesting to see this contrary reporter’s take on the meeting of which Nikki Haley was the star speaker.  At least, we can see that “the other side” understands our war and fortress and strength mentality and our global presence.  But, God forbid that we should trust in human effort as anything more than stewards of his Will.

https://harpers.org/blog/2018/10/nikki-haley-at-the-council-for-national-policy/
Nikki Haley at the Council for National Policy

Paragraph 2, read all for various insights:
Less than a week before her resignation, Ambassador Haley made a pilgrimage to a decidedly immoderate, highly secretive organization of right-wing, mostly evangelical Republican operatives known as the Council for National Policy, or CNP. Her appearance before the group featured her last major speech before she announced that she would leave her official post. There was no public notice, no transcript. I was present as the only journalist inside the closed-door gathering.
***
(October 19)
No-win situation.  Thousands flee from nations long soaked and cowed in superstitious religion mixed with paganism/heathenism, now under the judgments of mass-murdering, terrorizing drug-warlords…people now fleeing to the USA, which cannot bear such unchecked masses and remain sovereign. End of the Age anarchy, here, “on this side of the pond,” as well as between Africa and Europe?  Other stories accuse socialist “community organizers” for these massed treks.  May our God take opportunity, by our prayers and in his sovereignty, to show the Gospel’s power in daily needs to these suffering folk.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/more-honduran-migrants-seek-join-u-bound-group-182027226.html
More Honduran migrants seek to join U.S.-bound group in Guatemala
CHIQUIMULA, Guatemala (Reuters) - More Honduran migrants tried to join a caravan of several thousand trekking through Guatemala on Wednesday, defying calls by authorities not to make the journey after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off regional aid in reprisal. … …
***
ISIS threatens to kill 10 a day from hostages it is hiding behind —

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1033295/isis-news-putin-news-russia-war-Syria
ISIS RETURNS: Sick terrorists take 700 hostage - Putin issues warning
ISIS has taken 700 people hostage in an area in Syria controlled by US-backed forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed.
The Russian leader said the depraved terrorists had expanded its control in territory controlled by US and US-backed forces.
ISIS issued Russia with an ultimatum and vowed to execute ten people every day.
Speaking in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Putin said the hostages included several US and European nationals. 
"The day before yesterday they executed 10 people." 
Putin did not specify what the militants' demands were.

*** *** ***

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
whose mind is stayed on thee: 
because he trusteth in thee.”

The Prophet Isaiah, 26:3

*****************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

October 14

Saints,

Let me look at a few “hard sayings” of the Scriptures, not for the sake of hardness but for the sake of checking my salvation:  “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18).  The point for me here is the state of the righteous.  At the very utmost we stand by mercy and grace only.  Only by the daily, even the hourly, even the momentarily taking up of the cross can we surmount our still lingering, dying transgressional nature which is always ready to rise suddenly like a snapping serpent in us!  Peter goes on to say, in 1 P3:15, that we must set ourselves apart and be always ready to testify of the mercy and hope given us, and with an attitude of “meekness and fear.”  We only stand by faith.

Now, the saints face A terrible, worldwide, enchanting, assaulting apostasy—departure from the Faith—and a replacement of it—very likely The Great Falling Away prophesied by Paul and John and Jesus and other biblical witnesses and the rise of the “faith” of Antichrist and his replacement “system of Religion”.  Rome literally rots, like a syphilitic old patient, from the judgment of the failures of its servants, who wrongly suffered a falsely demanded spiritual castration to be called servants, and now the cancer spreads even to the head of the church.  But, the Protestants try to outdo even them with apostasies from the Scriptures arising from every direction.  And anyone who tries to simply point out scriptural matters is written off as a throwback, a hater of righteousness, and is cast out of their company.  And righteousness is re-defined as “anything goes” (except what is good!), and in the name of “inclusivity” and “diversity” and “love,” a love which is only debauchery.  And the devils of Sodom roam freely in the streets, all over the airwaves (“Prince of the Powers of the Air”?), and stalk the Artificial Reality of Entrancing Cyberspace.  The Time has come of which Isaiah prophesied: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (5:20)

In these days, the saints, though walking on rare ground, and often alone and in great spiritual danger are called to walk it out with the Lord our God, finding companions along the way as we might, but going on, apart from Man too, like Bunyan’s “Pilgrim” no matter how we may be beset.  It is not large groups of people, parading around in hierarchies, literally decked out in the robes and sashes and regalia of the Pharisees, counting on the “group spirit” of crowds of “worshippers,” endless conferences and synods and cathedrals and television specials, and titles of men, and of pomp and ceremony.  It is rather, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).  It is a matter of guarding personal faith:  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock:  If ANY MAN hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in TO HIM, AND WILL SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME” (Revelation 3:20).

Why do we so easily rally around men and groups and exalt them with names and titles while we neglect the Lord Himself?  Has not Jesus Himself said, “Call no man, ‘rabbi, rabbi,” (and by extension, “pastor, pastor,” exalted leader, priest, cardinal, or pope, for such is the work of the religious Pharisees and is damned in the sight of God.  Review Matthew 23 in its simple and prophetic entirety, and see the Judgment of such religion in the last verse:  Jesus will and does withdraw Himself from such until the time comes when men will welcome Him among them again:  “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (v.39, last and summary verse of the chapter).

In these days, let us take stock daily, not being offended by Paul’s admonition, rather being glad for it: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding: (Proverbs 15:32).  Lord Jesus, RE-PROVE me daily and as needed, and thank you for the Comfort of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).  Thank you for the anointing of the new birth:  “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is not lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).

Let us “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” (Col. 4:2).

***

The Week —
(October 6)
O, dear!  Maybe a good laugh for all of us including Melania!  God save her!  Her African visit’s couture features a white pith helmet: Colonialism (via Hollywood!) accusations (by the howling hyenas of certain of the “Left-addicted/Demented” Press)—

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/world/africa/melania-trump-pith-helmet.html
Melania Trump Raises Eyebrows in Africa With Another White Hat
excerpt: “It’s like showing up to a meeting of African-American cotton farmers in a Confederate uniform,” Matthew Carotenuto, a coordinator of African Studies at St. Lawrence University, wrote on Twitter. “Historical context matters.”

***
(October 7)
The beginnings of mass insanity, zeitgeist group spirit, yielding to a corporate familiar spirit?  paving the way for mass insurrection, civil war?

https://www.dailywire.com/news/36824/watch-leftists-protesters-freak-out-claw-supreme-emily-zanotti
WATCH: Leftist Protesters FREAK OUT, Claw At Supreme Court Doors While Brett Kavanaugh Is Sworn In
Leftists had a rough day Saturday as the Senate voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the nation's highest court, and for the most part, they didn't hide their despair. With Handmaids on Capitol Hill and protesters on the National Mall, leftists turned downtown Washington, D.C. into a massive, ongoing temper tantrum.
But perhaps no incident better expressed the protesters' tenuous hold on sanity than a demonstration at the Supreme Court, where protesters — mostly women — broke through a police line and barged to the Court's chamber, where they proceeded to wail, gnash teeth, and pound at the doors while Kavanaugh was being sworn in inside.
Some of the protesters, who managed to get all the way through to the doors themselves, tried desperately to claw their way in, even though the doors were clearly locked (and look very heavy). It took some time for them to give up. It may take them much longer to regain their sanity.
***
(October 8)
Will the new “5G” networks cook us?
https://www.naturalblaze.com/2018/10/5g-network-uses-same-emf-waves-as-pentagon-crowd-control-system.html
5G Network Uses Same EMF Waves As Pentagon Crowd Control System
***
Another commentator sees potential civil war in the political divide and general mess — “sleepwalking into a second civil war”?
(While I would rather not see a sole and particular person headlined, the commentator Michael Goodwin goes on to cite many others in the deep divisions, “the resistance,” of this day.)

https://nypost.com/2018/10/06/hillary-clinton-is-still-finding-ways-to-denigrate-democracy/
Hillary Clinton is still finding ways to denigrate democracy
***
The Ongoing Horror of Indonesia; Death Toll climbing past 2000.  Lord, please help the saints there know what to do and where to go; help the Lost and many among the infidels turn and find you in the midst of this apocalypse.

https://apnews.com/4c56d3d11a734742a21e823ce5173ff8
Confirmed deaths near 2,000, still more likely in Indonesia
PALU, Indonesia (AP) — The confirmed death toll from the devastating earthquake and tsunami on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island neared 2,000 on Monday, but thousands more are believed unaccounted for and officials said search teams plan to stop looking for victims later this week.
The official toll hit 1,948, mostly in the hard-hit city of Palu, said Jamaluddin, an official from the disaster task force who uses one name. He corrected the number during a news conference in Jakarta after initially saying it was 1,944. He said a navy ship had docked in the area and opened a field hospital.
Willem Rampangilei, head of the National Board for Disaster Management, said there could be as many as 5,000 victims still buried in deep mud in Balaroa and Petobo, two of Palu’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. But he added that number must be verified by his teams because it is an unofficial figure which came from village heads in the area. The Sept. 28 quake caused loose, wet soil to liquefy there. It is too soft to use heavy equipment for recovery, and decomposition of bodies is already advanced.
“It is impossible to rebuild in areas with high liquefaction risk such as Petobo and Balaroa,” he said, adding villages there will be relocated.
Talks were underway with religious authorities and surviving family members to decide whether some areas could be turned into mass graves for victims entombed there with monuments built to remember them.
Officials reiterated that the search is expected to end on Thursday. However, the deadline could be extended if needed.
Rampangilei said life is starting to return to normal in some areas affected by the disaster. Immediate food and water needs have been met, and the local government has started to function again. Many schools have been completely destroyed, but he said classes will resume where possible. However, many students are still too scared to return.

***
(October 9)
Thanks, spaceman, but not yet having seen such with my own eyes, I know that when I see it from a resurrected body, needing no space station, cleansed Nature will be yet more spectacular (when I have time for it, comparing it with the world to come; nevertheless, beauty remains even now for those who will lift up their eyes from the Present Troubles to praise the LORD our Maker. Psalm 121.)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6253295/ISS-astronaut-captures-stunning-shots-space.html
'I don't know any words, in any language, to match the beauty of an orbital sunrise': Stunning space station shots revealed
***
“Cyber Snowflakes” invite Big Brother in to follow their every move.  No thanks.
https://www.infowars.com/new-facebook-portal-camera-follows-you-around-the-room/
NEW FACEBOOK ‘PORTAL’ CAMERA FOLLOWS YOU AROUND THE ROOM
Gee, I bet this won’t be used to spy on everyone
Facebook has announced the rollout of its new ‘Portal’ smart speakers, which it brags have a camera that can automatically follow users around the room.
Becoming the latest company to enter the smart-speaker market after Amazon Alexa and Google Home, Facebook rolled out a pair of voice-controlled devices that are optimized for video calling.
“Portal’s smart camera follows the action, keeping you in frame and everyone in view,” states the promo for the product. 
The technology led some people to draw comparisons to George Orwell’s 1984, and a quote from the book illustrates creepy similarities.
“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard.”
Undoubtedly wary about fears the technology could be exploited to spy on its users following the company’s data abuse scandals, Facebook has even included a camera cover that can be slipped over the lens.
The device also features a single button that instantly disables the camera and the microphones (because you can surely trust Facebook, right?)
Twitter users responded to the video promo with less than sympathetic feedback.
“No thanks, big brother,” said one. … …
***
Portland Antifa practicing for “no-go zones” in an arriving anarchized America?

https://www.infowars.com/video-antifa-thugs-block-roads-direct-traffic-threaten-people-who-dont-obey/
VIDEO: ANTIFA THUGS BLOCK ROADS, DIRECT TRAFFIC, THREATEN PEOPLE WHO DON’T OBEY
***
Tuesday a.m. — Michael arrives Wednesday.
Hurricane Michael Inbound for Panhandle Coast — Lord Jesus, protect those who will look to you, and we know your mercy is there even for those who are still lost for “the rain falls on the unjust too.”  Save, even through disaster, we pray.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Historical-Analogues-Hurricane-Michael-Hermine-Dennis-Ivan-Opal-and-Kate
Historical Analogues for Hurricane Michael: Hermine, Dennis, Ivan, Opal, and Kate
Hurricane Michael has the Florida Panhandle/Big Bend region in its crosshairs, with a landfall on Wednesday predicted by all of our reliable track models. This part of Florida has been pounded by many hurricanes in recent decades, and we can look back at these storms to help us anticipate what Michael’s impact might be. History tells us that storm surge is the primary danger from hurricanes in this region, but wind damage also a significant threat. … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/hurricane-michael-storm-track-path-florida.html?emc=edit_th_181009&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981009
Hurricane Michael May Hit Florida as Category 3 Storm
ATLANTA — Hurricane Michael strengthened and sharpened its track toward the Florida Panhandle on Monday, imperiling a vast stretch of the state that must cope with the threat of a suddenly menacing storm.
The risks posed by the hurricane extended hundreds of miles inland, and it was poised to bombard parts of the South and Mid-Atlantic as a tropical storm, endangering regions still recovering from Hurricane Florence’s deluge last month.
The National Hurricane Center said Michael could make landfall on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 111 miles per hour. If the forecast holds, Michael would be the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the mainland United States so far this year.
“This storm will be life-threatening and extremely dangerous,” Gov. Rick Scott of Florida said at a televised news conference in Southport, Fla., just north of Panama City.
“Michael can still change direction and impact any part of the state,” said Mr. Scott, who warned that some areas could receive up to a foot of rain, and that destructive winds were likely to hit both along the coast, in places like Panama City, and inland, including Tallahassee, the capital. Local officials ordered evacuations from some communities ahead of the storm, which is expected to bring tropical storm-force winds to the state beginning as soon as Tuesday.
Unlike Hurricane Florence, which slowly approached the Carolinas from the Atlantic Ocean and then meandered for days, Hurricane Michael offered little time for preparation. When Mr. Scott spoke, just after 8 a.m. on Monday, the system was a tropical storm, though one forecast to strengthen. Less than three hours later, the hurricane center upgraded it to a Category 1 hurricane and anticipated a Category 3 strike on Wednesday. … …
***
Another instance of the tug of war between Nationalism and Globalism, Democracy vs. Security, Right vs. Left, etc. as people cry for “Peace and Safety” (1 Thessalonians 5:3) in Brazil

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/world/americas/brazil-elections-bolsonaro.html?emc=edit_th_181009&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981009
Brazil Voters Edge Toward a ‘Last Resort’ Leader
RIO DE JANEIRO — By the time Brazilians were done voting Sunday, mighty power brokers had been tossed out of office, long-dominant political parties had been humbled, and a far-right populist suddenly looked like he just might be the most powerful man in the country.
It was, in short, the most sweeping political shift Brazil had ever seen in a single election since democracy was restored in 1985.
“What we are watching today is the collapse of our current system,” said Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida, a political scientist at the University of São Paulo.
The near-winner in the first round of voting in the presidential race was Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain. He offered few detailed policies. But his draconian approach toward fighting violence — he would make it easier to for the police to kill suspected criminals and imprison more people for longer — appealed to many in a nation traumatized by rising crime, a dispiriting economy and a political class widely regarded as venal and unresponsive. … …
***
NYT QUOTE OF THE DAY —
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"His constituents out here told him basically, ‘You vote this guy in or we’re going to vote you out.’ He figured he better stay in with his people."
KEVIN DALTON, of Madison, W. Va., about Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the only Democrat to support Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s elevation to the Supreme Court.

I try to stay outside the fray of politics for the Gospel’s sake, but I must say the public installment ceremony for the new Justice Kavanaugh, while no doubt properly staged and political, was a breath of fresh air and a reminder of a better day in America.  May God pour his mercy on our leaders and protect and preserve them.  If you missed the ceremony on the evening of the 8th, find it and stream it, for a refreshing half hour…and for food and thought for prayer.  God save us!
***
While we should do all we can as stewards of the Earth, turning from glut and the greed of iniquity and excess, it is still sheer arrogance to think we can save ourselves. One Krakatoa-size event (1883) could almost instantly bring on a nuclear winter that 10 billion cars, billions of tons of hamburger production, etc., etc. could never accomplish — and not yet to speak of poisonous asteroids like Wormwood that will strike during the Tribulation with both planet-bashing explosion and the following widespread poisoning of the planet’s water (Revelation 8:10-11). Yes, be good stewards but first repent!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/politics/climate-change-united-nations-trump.html?emc=edit_th_181009&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981009
Dire Climate Warning Lands With a Thud on Trump’s Desk
***
Propaganda produced by the spirit of antichrist to put everyone (but its own elite?) back to walking and biking, living in straw huts, eating an energy-depleted “grass diet,” etc?  Yet deeper “Tribulation Stuff” in the planning and inception stages?  “…unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” sounds like an implied threat to me…? “re-education camps,” etc?
https://newatlas.com/global-warming-ipcc-report/56678/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-10-09%20143621%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-10-09%20144302%20Ford%20unloads%20details%20of%202019%20Ranger%20pickup%20truck&utm_content=2018-10-09%20143621%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-10-09%20144302%20Ford%20unloads%20details%20of%202019%20Ranger%20pickup%20truck+CID_bfd4805a9476a53723db1fd0b64634ca&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
IPCC warns that "unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" are needed to combat global warming
***
(October 10)
Mental Bondage to “the Borg” dawning?  “Group-think,” long a device, trick, technique of the dark pharma worlds of psychedelia, CIA experiments, “distant viewing,”  shamanism, demonism, etc., now becoming a mere technological enhancement?
https://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-connected-3-actual-human-brains-then-made-them-play-tetris/
Scientists connect 3 actual human brains (then make them play Tetris)
First Tetris... then what?
Neuroscientists behind the project called it "BrainNet", a "multi-person non-invasive direct brain-to-brain interface for collaborative problem solving".
In layman's terms, researchers from the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University figured out a way to connect three brains (still attached to their human hosts!) and have the owners of said brains make collective choices together without speaking.
And they tested it by playing Tetris. Because of course they did.
The team used "electroencephalograms" (EEGs) to record electric impulses from two human brains and "transcranial magnetic stimulation" to deliver information to a third brain. The end result: an interface that allowed three human subjects to collaborate and solve Tetris problems using brain-to-brain communication. … …

***
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/religion/article219713055.html
“Christian Colleges” caving to societal change, government requirements for financing?  Better to disband then to “baptize” sin.   LGBTQQetc. students lecture God with their “prayers”…
Ban on same-sex couples roils small Christian college: ‘This isn’t something sinful, God’
On a recent fall day, a group of protesters gathered in a university courtyard, many holding rainbow flags. About 100 students and faculty members were fighting for LGBTQ rights on campus.
The scene was unusual, though – in some ways radical – given that the location was Azusa Pacific University, a Christian college, and that the debate was over how God would view the issue of same-sex couples.
“This isn’t something sinful, God,” one student said, leading the emotional gathering. “This is something beautiful. I pray that we continue to live out the mission of being difference-makers, God, that this world be a place of equality, God.”
***
Michael to come ashore as “Cat 4” storm on Wednesday afternoon (today).  By the time of this edition’s publish, we will know the extent of this monster.  We pray before the event (Isaiah 65:24, Matthew 6:8) that God will spare lives from its power, and awaken many to salvation.  Drudge headlines it:  CAT 4 HELL STORM STRENGTHENS FURTHER — BULLSEYE PANAMA CITY
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Florida-Panhandle-Bracing-Potential-Category-4-Hit-Michael
Florida Panhandle Bracing for Category 4 Hit from Michael
Just hours away from an expected Wednesday afternoon landfall, Hurricane Michael became ever stronger and more organized on Tuesday night over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Michael’s high winds, torrential rain, and very large storm surge were pushing briskly toward the Florida Panhandle and the Big Bend region just to the east, the areas in line to experience the worst impacts. Update (2 am EDT Wednesday): Michael has been upgraded to Category 4 strength as of 2 am EDT, with top sustained winds of 130 mph. Some additional strengthening is possible before landfall. … …
***
Gender Propaganda — How a Massive Spell is Cast, courtesy of the NYTimes, unbeknownst.  While legitimate complaints between the Genders are historic, denials of God’s Designs are Disastrous.  Feminism is a Visible, Political Arm of Witchcraft.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/books/feminist-dystopian-fiction-margaret-atwood-women-metoo.html?emc=edit_th_181010&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981010
How Feminist Dystopian Fiction Is Channeling Women’s Anxiety and Anger

On a desolate island, three sisters have been raised in isolation, sequestered from an outbreak that’s causing women to fall ill. To protect themselves from toxins, which men can transmit to women, the sisters undergo cleansing rituals that include simulating drowning, drinking salt water and exposing themselves to extreme heat and cold. Above all, they are taught to avoid contact with men.
That’s the chilling premise of Sophie Mackintosh’s unsettling debut novel “The Water Cure,” a story that feels both futuristic and like an eerily familiar fable. It grew out of a simple, sinister question: What if masculinity were literally toxic?
“The Water Cure,” which comes out in the United States in January and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, joins a growing wave of female-centered dystopian fiction, futuristic works that raise uncomfortable questions about pervasive gender inequality, misogyny and violence against women, the erosion of reproductive rights and the extreme consequences of institutionalized sexism.
For Ms. Mackintosh, those questions don’t feel abstract.
“Building off the idea of toxic patriarchy, I decided to make it more solid and physical, because sometimes it does feel physical,” said Ms. Mackintosh, who lives in London. “I felt like I didn’t need to invent a disaster, because there was already a disaster happening.”
This new canon of feminist dystopian literature — which includes works by up-and-coming novelists like Ms. Mackintosh, Naomi Alderman, Leni Zumas and Idra Novey, as well as books by celebrated veterans like Louise Erdrich and Joyce Carol Oates — reflects a growing preoccupation among writers with the tenuous status of women’s rights, and the ambient fear that progress toward equality between the sexes has stalled or may be reversed.
Most of these new dystopian stories take place in the future, but channel the anger and anxieties of the present, when women and men alike are grappling with shifting gender roles and the messy, continuing aftermath of the MeToo movement. They are landing at a charged and polarizing moment, when a record number of women are getting involved in politics and running for office, and more women are speaking out against sexual assault and harassment.
At a time of increased unease about parity between the sexes, both new and classic dystopian novels seem to be resonating with readers and critics. Ms. Alderman’s novel, “The Power,” a twisted feminist revenge fantasy set in a world where women develop the ability to deliver an electric shock, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is in development as a television series.
At the same time, readers are embracing classics of the genre that have taken on new significance in today’s political climate. Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” set in a future theocratic state where women are treated as reproductive slaves, has sold more than 3.5 million copies in the United States since 2017, bringing total sales to more than five million, and was adapted into an award-winning television series.
Lately, Ms. Atwood’s imaginary dystopia has inspired real-life political activism, as protesters dresses as handmaids in red robes and white bonnets have gathered at state capitols around the country to oppose policies that restrict women’s access to abortion and health care. In September, a group of red-robed women protested at the United States Senate during hearings for Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court after being accused of committing sexual assault, and could potentially cast a decisive vote overturning Roe v. Wade.
‘Progress Is a Fantasy’
Women have been writing dystopian fiction for decades. Some of the most influential female pioneers in science fiction and fantasy, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler and Angela Carter, used the genre as a framework to write about gender identity and its constraints.
The recent proliferation of feminist dystopian works builds on that body of literature, using the lens of science fiction to project current concerns onto the future, while also reflecting on the past.
“They’re in a way how-to books, or what-would-I-do books, supposing this happened to me, what would I do?” Ms. Atwood said in an interview. “The idea that history will always progress is a fantasy.”
Some of the novels are meant to serve as cautionary tales against political inaction and complacency, and as a warning that steps toward women’s equality may one day be curtailed.
In her new novel “Hazards of Time Travel,” coming out in November, Joyce Carol Oates takes an almost literal approach to exploring fears that the clock could be turned back on women’s rights. The novel opens in a future autocratic America, where students are taught that men have higher I.Q.s than women, and centers on a young woman who is arrested for reason after she raises questions about the regime in school. As punishment, she gets teleported back to 1959 Wisconsin to be “re-educated” and rendered more docile.
In Christina Dalcher’s recent debut novel, “Vox,” an ultraconservative political party gains control of Congress and the White House, and enacts policies that force women to become submissive homemakers. Girls are no longer taught how to read or write; women are forbidden to work or hold political office, or even express themselves: They are forced into near silence after the government requires all women to wear bracelets that deliver a shock if they exceed an allotted daily word count.
Ms. Dalcher, a retired theoretical linguist, said she was inspired in part by the women’s marches around the country after the 2016 election.
“I thought, there must be a ton of people who are watching this and rolling their eyes and saying, I wish they would just shut up,” she said. “What better way to force somebody into submission than to take away the one thing that makes them human, language?”
‘We Are Already in a Dystopia’
Like “The Handmaid’s Tale,” several recent dystopian novels explore how a woman’s fertility can define her worth in society’s eyes, and consider what might happen if the government mandates and controls childbearing.
Leni Zumas was struggling to become pregnant when she began writing her recent novel “Red Clocks,” which takes place in a near-future America where abortion and in vitro fertilization are illegal and embryos are enshrined with the “right to life.” The idea came to her when she was researching fertility treatments, and came across references to proposed legislation that would outlaw in vitro fertilization.
“It was very intentional to make the situation in the novel feel ordinary, and therefore more frightening,” she said. “One of the things about looking at the world through a feminist lens is that we are already in a dystopia.”
Louise Erdrich puts a more apocalyptic spin on the themes of reproduction and women’s physical autonomy in “Future Home of the Living God,” which hinges on a cataclysmic biological event that threatens the future of humanity, leading the government to round up pregnant women and seize their babies.
Ms. Erdrich began writing the book many years ago, when she was pregnant with her fourth daughter. She set it aside until shortly after the 2016 presidential election, when, with a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, liberal activists raised alarms about the potential threat to women’s reproductive rights. Ms. Erdrich began to worry about what the world would be like if the gains made decades ago through women’s liberation movements were lost.
“Fighting for women’s rights is an unrelenting battle,” Ms. Erdrich wrote in an email. “I saw that my daughters might have to live with the steady erosion of human progress.”
‘Worse Than What’s Happening in “The Handmaid’s Tale” ’
The surging interest in female-centered science fiction has spread beyond North America and Britain. While Western novelists are using dystopian tropes to explore what might happen if hard-fought advancements for women’s equality are reversed, some writers from the Middle East and Asia have turned to dystopian fiction to highlight the oppression of women in the region.
Maggie Shen King’s debut novel, “An Excess Male,” takes place in China in 2030 and imagines the aftermath of China’s former one-child policy, a rule that led to sex-selection abortion of female fetuses. In Ms. Shen King’s novel, the policy has resulted in a surplus of 40 million men who can’t find wives, and women are forced by the state to marry multiple husbands.
A similar thought experiment drives the Pakistani writer Bina Shah’s new novel, “Before She Sleeps,” which unfolds in an autocratic southwest Asian country after a nuclear war has caused a genetic mutation that unleashed a deadly strain of cervical cancer, killing millions of women. As part of a government effort to rebuild the population, women are forced to marry multiple husbands and required to take fertility drugs that cause them to give birth to triplets and quintuplets. Ms. Shah got the idea of a “gender crisis” from news reports about sex-selection abortion and female infanticide in India and China. She envisioned a society, like many traditional and tribal ones, that prizes women as “precious resources,” but still oppresses them.
“In patriarchy, women are always going to end up being the losers,” she said. “What’s going on now in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan is worse than what’s happening in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’”
For Ms. Atwood — who has become a sort of patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction, heaping praise on younger writers who are expanding the genre — it has been both inspiring and unsettling to see the resurgence of interest in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as women’s rights activists have taken up the language and imagery from her novel as a cultural shorthand for misogyny.
“When I wrote the book, I wished we would not be in a situation where these protests would become necessary,” she said. “There’s certainly a very concerted push toward making women’s bodies a possession of the state in the United States.”
On the other hand, Ms. Atwood is comforted to see a growing number of people reading, and writing, dystopian fiction — a scenario that would be impossible under a real totalitarian government that banned free expression.
“The mere fact that you can read it means we’re not there yet,” she said.

***
“…in the last days, men shall be…(mentally) incontinent, fierce…”  (See the list in 2 Timothy 3:1-5)
https://www.france24.com/en/20181010-has-world-gone-mad-mental-health-disorders-rise-every-country-globally
Mental health disorders are on the rise in every country in the world and could cost the global economy up to $16 trillion between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed, according to an expert report on Tuesday.
***
Hurricane Michael Comes Ashore, still building strength and at Cat 4. Headlines Drudge Report:  **155 MPH** / STRENGTHENS FURTHER / PANHANDLE A WARZONE / STORM OF A LIFETIME! 
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Potentially-Catastrophic-Hurricane-Michael-Nearing-Landfall-Florida-Panhandle
Hurricane Michael Makes Landfall in Florida Panhandle
excerpt:  Catastrophic damage will occur: Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.
***
(October 11)
Yep, here it is… “Huge/Major Study…finds…”  The boldface promise of starvation diets coming by global enforcers… O, the very arrogance of proposed “salvations” by human management! (See related links above on the 9th.)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown
Huge reduction in meat-eating ‘essential’ to avoid climate breakdown
Major study also finds huge changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying Earth’s ability to feed its population
Huge reductions in meat-eating are essential to avoid dangerous climate change, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet of the food system’s impact on the environment. In western countries, beef consumption needs to fall by 90% and be replaced by five times more beans and pulses.
The research also finds that enormous changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying the planet’s ability to feed the 10 billion people expected to be on the planet in a few decades.
Food production already causes great damage to the environment, via greenhouse gases from livestock, deforestation and water shortages from farming, and vast ocean dead zones  from agricultural pollution. But without action, its impact will get far worse as the world population rises by 2.3 billion people by 2050 and global income triples, enabling more people to eat meat-rich western diets.
This trajectory would smash critical environmental limits beyond which humanity will struggle to live, the new research indicates. “It is pretty shocking,” said Marco Springmann at the University of Oxford, who led the research team. “We are really risking the sustainability of the whole system. If we are interested in people being able to farm and eat, then we better not do that.” … …

A sleeper phrase excerpt:  But a global change is needed, he said: “I think we can do it, but we really need much more proactive governments to provide the right framework.”
***
NYTimes Breaking News Email Updates / October 11 / Thank God for the low casualty list in such a fierce storm and catastrophe.  This is answered prayer.  Heavy rain bands are already all over the East Coast and even up here in northern Vermont.

Hurricane Michael left parts of the Florida Panhandle in ruins.  At least 2 are dead, 800,000 are without power and 4 hospitals were closed.
	
Thursday, October 11, 2018 11:01 AM EST
Emergency officials rushed to evacuate at least 200 patients from a heavily damaged hospital and a vast search-and-rescue operation took shape across the Florida Panhandle on Thursday.
With the death toll expected to rise, one county to the next was a disaster zone of sirens, upended buildings and staggered — and newly homeless — residents.	
	
***
Serious governmental insanity in France?  “The pot calling the kettle black” in Paris as French authorities attack LePen as crazy for reporting on terrorists.
(via the bereancall.org)
Today's Update: (French Political Leader Le Pen) Ordered to Take Psychiatric Tests for Opposing Jihad Terror

[On September 9, 2018] French “far right” (i.e., opposed to mass Muslim migration and French cultural and political suicide) leader Marine Le Pen [was] ordered by a French court to undergo a psychiatric examination in order to discover whether or not she “is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions.”
Why this doubt as to Le Pen’s mental competence? Because she “tweeted out gruesome propaganda images from terror group Isis that showed the bodies of people having been executed by the so-called Islamic State.”
And why did she do that? Out of a lurid fascination with blood and gore, or some secret sympathy for the Islamic State’s jihad? No. She tweeted out those images because her party was being likened to the Islamic State in the French media. In a bid to bring the national discussion back to some semblance of sanity, she pointed out – by means of visual aids – that her party was not behaving in the same way as the Islamic State, and not leaving a trail of bloodshed and death in its wake.
But that meant nothing to the French….She was charged with circulating “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity.” And now, according to The [French News Blog] Local, “as part of their investigation it appears magistrates in Nanterre near Paris have ordered Le Pen to visit a psychiatrist for an expert assessment.” Adding to the Orwellian flavor of the whole scenario was the fact that this order was issued on September 11.
Le Pen is still trying to inject a note of sanity into this fantastically insane public discourse, stating: “I thought I had been through it all: well, no! For denouncing the horrors of Daesh (ISIS) by tweets the ‘justice system’ has referred me for a psychiatric assessment. How far will they go?!”
How far indeed? Le Pen is defiant: “Of course I will not go to this psychiatric assessment and I will wait to see how the magistrate intends to force me.” Indeed, we are all waiting. Now that the French authorities have begun to engage in the Soviet tactic of branding their opposition mentally incompetent, what other Soviet tactics will follow?
These kinds of scenarios are not hysterical fantasies anymore, if they ever were. If Le Pen is ordered to undergo psychiatric examination for the completely sane act of opposing the Islamic State and refuting claims that her movement is like it, then all bets are off. France, like Britain (where the police are devoting themselves to tracking down not just “hate crimes,” but “non-crime hate incidents,” i.e., thoughtcrimes, while actual crime rates skyrocket), is rapidly descending into totalitarianism, and there is no telling where it will end.
Will French authorities indeed come after Le Pen, and enforce this order? Will she be imprisoned for refusing it? Will others who declare that Islam is not a religion of peace and that mass Muslim migration into Europe is unwise be likewise declared insane and carted off to hospitals and/or prisons?....Le Pen also stated: “It’s really incredible. This regime is really starting to worry me.” You and me both, sister.
﻿(Spencer, "Marine Le Pen Ordered to Take Psychiatric Tests for Opposing Jihad Terror,” FrontPageMag Online, 9/24/18).
***
Boston Dynamics Videos Show Humanoid Terminator Bots Not Science Fiction Any Longer —  Awaiting weaponization orders?

https://www.infowars.com/boston-dynamics-atlas-robot-can-now-leap-up-stairs/
BOSTON DYNAMICS’ ATLAS ROBOT CAN NOW LEAP UP STAIRS
***
(October 12)
Mexico Beach and the Panhandle left like a post-nuclear apocalypse.  Even concrete block and stucco reinforced structures obliterated.  Let your people see your supply as with the Israelites in the wilderness.  You change not:  “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/us/hurricane-michael-florida-assessment.html?emc=edit_th_181012&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981012
Hurricane Michael’s Deadly Strike Leaves Florida Panhandle Reeling

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — The scope of the devastation brought by Hurricane Michael came into sobering focus on Thursday as rescue workers searched a ruined landscape of splintered homes, toppled trees and upended vehicles that stretched across much of the Florida Panhandle.
The seaside community of Mexico Beach, where the storm made landfall, was a flattened wreck. Across the small sportfishing town, piers and docks were destroyed, fishing boats were piled crazily on shore and townspeople wandered the streets in horror and wonder.
“These were all block and stucco houses — gone,” said Tom Bailey, the former mayor. “The mother of all bombs doesn’t do any more damage than this.”
And while Mexico Beach was the hardest hit, much of the Florida Panhandle was a landscape of collapsed buildings and compromised roads and water systems. Rescue teams evacuated hospitals, searched rubble for survivors and dropped emergency supplies from helicopters.
The storm’s rage spread across six states, and well more than a million homes and businesses were without electricity on Thursday as Michael made its way seaward as a tropical storm. At least six people were confirmed dead, and officials appeared resigned that the toll would rise. Local governments imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews and told residents to boil their water. The American Red Cross said about 7,800 people slept in shelters on Wednesday night.
“So many lives have been changed forever, so many families have lost everything,” said Gov. Rick Scott of Florida. “Homes are gone, businesses are gone. Roads and infrastructure along the storm’s path have been destroyed. This hurricane was an absolute monster.” … …
***
(October 13)
Time to exit Facebook use?
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/facebook-says-hackers-saw-personal-info-14-million-people-n919531
Facebook says hackers saw personal info of 14 million people
The exposed data included relationship status, birth date, hometown, education and the 15 most recent searches, Facebook said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/technology/facebook-russian-scraping-data.html
Facebook Says Russian Firms ‘Scraped’ Data, Some for Facial Recognition
SAN FRANCISCO — On the same day Facebook announced that it had carried out its biggest purge yet of American accounts peddling disinformation, the company quietly made another revelation: It had removed 66 accounts, pages and apps linked to Russian firms that build facial recognition software for the Russian government.
Facebook said Thursday that it had removed any accounts associated with SocialDataHub and its sister firm, Fubutech, because the companies violated its policies by scraping data from the social network.
“Facebook has reason to believe your work for the government has included matching photos from individuals’ personal social media accounts in order to identify them,” the company said in a cease-and-desist letter to SocialDataHub that was dated Tuesday and viewed by The New York Times.
Facebook gave the companies until Friday to detail what data they had taken and then delete it all.
The case illustrates a new reality for Facebook. SocialDataHub and Fubutech have been around for at least four years, relying in part on Facebook data to build products that might alarm some civil-liberty advocates.

As Facebook is taking a closer look at its own products amid increasing scrutiny and public outcry, it is finding more examples of companies that have been exploiting its global social network for questionable ends.
SocialDataHub and Fubutech also present another challenge because, Facebook said, at least some of their data collection occurred through web scraping.
Scraping is a rudimentary technique in which computer programmers can pull information off a website. It is difficult to detect and prevent, Facebook said. Scraping can pull any data that’s left public on a Facebook profile — and, theoretically, more private data about the user’s Facebook friends. … …
Concluding sentence of the piece:  At the top of the SocialDataHub’s website, there is a single line: “We know everything about everybody.”
***
Everyone should avoid gluttony, a sin, but will the UK’s advanced Big Brotherism make the judgment for you?  The end of pizza? Civilization itself shrinking?  Food/Diet control?  “Here, eat some grass!”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/11/pizzas-must-shrink-lose-toppings-government-anti-obesity-plan/
Pizzas must shrink or lose their toppings under Government anti-obesity plan 
Pizzas must shrink or lose their toppings under Government plans to cap the calories in thousands of meals sold in restaurants and supermarkets.
Pies, ready meals and sandwiches will also be subject to the new proposed calorie limits, in a desperate bid to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis.
Under the draft proposals, a standard pizza for one should contain no more than 928 calories - far less than many sold by takeaways, restaurants and shops.  And the recommendations suggest that a savoury pie should contain no more than 695 calories.
Public Health England (PHE) said “drastic” measures were needed to combat Britain’s obesity crisis.
Their plans will see recommended limits on thousands of regularly consumed foods, including cooking sauces, soups, burgers and processed meats.
It comes as new figures show rates of severe obesity among children have risen by more than a third in just over a decade.
More than one in five pupils are obese by the time they leave primary school - including around 24,000 children who are classed as “severely obese”. … …
***
Praise God!!!…Who uses the intrigues among nations to answer prayer.  Brother Andrew has been on my white board of prayer supplications for some time.  Many have prayed.  God has answered!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/world/europe/turkey-us-pastor-andrew-brunson.html?emc=edit_th_181013&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981013
Turkey Frees Pastor Andrew Brunson, Easing Tensions With U.S.
SAKRAN, Turkey — A Turkish court on Friday ordered the release of the American pastor Andrew Brunson, ending his 24-month detention and allowing him to fly home, signaling a truce of sorts in a heated diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the United States.
Mr. Brunson, who was accused of spying and aiding terrorists, had been sentenced to 3 years 1 month 15 days in prison. The judge, citing time served, allowed him to leave the country immediately.
Mr. Brunson’s prolonged detention and trial had worsened tensions between the United States and Turkey. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence personally raised his case several times with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The United States government imposed financial sanctions. And members of Congress traveled to Turkey to attend his trial.
American officials said Mr. Brunson’s detention, along with that of about 20 other Turkish-Americans held after a coup attempt in 2016, was an attempt by Ankara to gain leverage in its various disputes with Washington.
After the pastor’s release, Mr. Trump invited him to come to the White House as early as Saturday. “We’re very honored to have him back here with us,” the president told reporters in Ohio, where he was traveling for a campaign rally. “He suffered greatly.”
Turkey is grappling with a growing economic crisis and has been anxious to reduce a fine of billions of dollars that the United States Treasury is expected to impose on the state-owned Turkish bank, Halkbank, for its part in a conspiracy to violate American sanctions against Iran.
The decision to free Mr. Brunson came a little over a week after the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and columnist for The Washington Post, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say they believe Mr. Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, and Ankara may be trying to mend relations with Washington to secure its help in confronting Saudi Arabia, analysts said.
Mr. Trump, however, seemed to want to put distance between the Brunson and the Khashoggi disputes.
“We went through a system and we got him out,” he said of Mr. Brunson. “We tried to get him out for a long time. This has nothing to do with anything, and there’s no deal there at all.”
After the hearing, Mr. Brunson, an evangelical pastor who runs the small Resurrection Church in Izmir, left the courthouse by car and returned to his home before departing for Germany, en route to the United States.
“Thanks be to God,” said the Rev. William Devlin of New York, a supporter who attended every hearing. “Pastor Brunson is going home. We thank the court, we thank Turkey and we thank President Erdogan.”
Washington and Ankara had been involved in complex negotiations over the pastor’s fate for months. American officials had hoped Turkey would also release Serkan Golge, a Turkish-American scientist, and three Turkish citizens who worked at American diplomatic missions.
The Brunson case has been one of several disputes between the two countries. … …
***
(October 14)

“Threescore and ten” as the promised average lifespan is as a mercy not a curse while this present evil world remains.  Read this remarkable account. “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools” (Proverbs 7:2-5).  Lord God, save this old soul!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6272007/Worlds-oldest-woman-129-remembers-time-people-deported-Stalin-World-War-Two.html
World's oldest woman, 129, who says her long life is a punishment from God remembers the one happy day in her life - when she returned home after surviving a Stalin purge in World War Two
***
Brother Andrew Brunson, the pastor released from Iran, prays with (and importantly, FOR!) President Trump — laying his hand on Mr. Trump’s shoulder
https://apnews.com/1d27849b00a745979699c996adcee7d7
US pastor freed from Turkey prays with Trump in Oval Office
WASHINGTON (AP) — Freed American pastor Andrew Brunson fell to one knee in the Oval Office and placed his hand on President Donald Trump’s shoulder in prayer on Saturday, asking God to provide the president “supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country and for him.” … …
***
The misery of the immediate present U.S. catastrophe leaves unexpected inland trails of destruction too. Lord, we continue to pray your strength and comfort for the survivors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/us/hurricane-michael-victims.html?emc=edit_th_181014&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981014
Far From the Shattered Coast, Hurricane Michael Packed an Unexpected Punch
MARIANNA, Fla. — After carving a path of despair along the coast of Florida’s Panhandle, Hurricane Michael drubbed the state’s inland rural communities with such unexpected brutal force that it left residents and officials stunned — and facing a daunting recovery.
That a ferocious storm could blast north from the Gulf of Mexico and through a battery of states before it finally fled to the Atlantic Ocean early on Friday was always a possibility, but not one people here thought likely.
“There’s a group of us who have been warning about this for years,” said Rodney E. Andreasen, director of emergency management for Jackson County, where Marianna is the county seat. Mr. Andreasen said the area felt sustained winds of 130 to 140 miles per hour.
By the time Michael crossed into Georgia, it was still classified as a major Category 3 hurricane with a clearly defined and devastating eye. … …

***	***	***
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

Paul to the Colossians, 4:2

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

October 7

Saints,

We can and must pray for those in terrible disasters planet-wide.  We must not forget.  We can contribute to ministries such as WorldVision, hoping they are more than nominal in their disaster charities and still share the Eternal Gospel too, along with relief supplies, with those near Death’s door and as the planet begins to rage and “vomit out” its inhabitants. (Leviticus 18:25:  And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.)

See second note below for October 6.

***

The Week — 

(October 1)
Just a little wondering report — Besides internet streaming and services, I do only over-the-air-TV.  I usually watch a network news show early on Sunday mornings.  This Sunday, September 30, both CBSNews and NBCNews were suddenly not on the air, replaced by golf tournament and football game.  No explanation.  A later check for Meet the Press also found it missing.  I did manage to catch ABCNews at the regular early hour.  I have seen such things occur occasionally before, and similarly never with announcement or follow-up explanation.  One has to wonder why, what’s going on, what gives?  How unglued and patched together is the appearance of the world’s systems around us?
***
A world upside down?  Kanye West in MAGA hat calling out liberal assumptions in the midst of SNL — God save many from every quarter, and from every quarter many will also perish.  Reportedly, his speech was censored out in some venues.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/arts/music/kanye-west-donald-trump-snl.html?emc=edit_th_181001&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981001
Kanye West Ends ‘S.N.L.’ With Speech About Trump and Bullying
excerpts:  Mr. West, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, continued his foray into off-the-cuff political commentary after the credits rolled for the season premiere, delivering a scattered speech that was cut off from some broadcasts. In footage from the crowd posted to the comedian Chris Rock’s Instagram account, Mr. West can be seen musing on his support of President Trump and urging, “We need to have a dialogue and not a diatribe.”
Mr. West, who is known for delivering similarly improvised addresses during his concerts, said he is often asked how he can support President Trump because “he’s racist.” “If I was concerned about racism,” Mr. West said, “I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.” He said Democrats were responsible for a plan to take “fathers out the home and promote welfare.” The rapper also mentioned his long-teased presidential aspirations  for 2020 and referred to the “one-sided” liberal nature of the entertainment world as the “S.N.L.” cast stood stoically behind him.

Trump has said of him:  Some conservatives, including President Trump himself, have praised Mr. West for his position. “Thank you Kanye for your support,” the president wrote on Twitter. “It is making a big difference!” And he spoke up on Twitter Sunday afternoon, calling the show “no longer funny” and a “political ad for the Dems,” but giving a shout out to Mr. West. “Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told “no”), was great. He’s leading the charge!”

***
Henry Kissinger is often regarded as an elder statesman of the Globalists.  Here’s his take on the Rise of Artificial Intelligence as a New World Order, June, 2018, The Atlantic Magazine —
In this piece, Kissinger refers to “religion” as a Past Age before the Age of the Enlightenment and cites his view of a march of Ages of Man.  Even he worries the rise of AI may be the Last Age.
(Recommended by Ivanka Trump on Twitter)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/henry-kissinger-ai-could-mean-the-end-of-human-history/559124/
How the Enlightenment Ends
Philosophically, intellectually—in every way—human society is unprepared for the rise of artificial intelligence.
excerpts:  As I listened to the speaker celebrate this technical progress, my experience as a historian and occasional practicing statesman gave me pause. What would be the impact on history of self-learning machines—machines that acquired knowledge by processes particular to themselves, and applied that knowledge to ends for which there may be no category of human understanding? Would these machines learn to communicate with one another? How would choices be made among emerging options? Was it possible that human history might go the way of the Incas, faced with a Spanish culture incomprehensible and even awe-inspiring to them? Were we at the edge of a new phase of human history?
…The implications of this evolution are shown by a recently designed program, AlphaZero, which plays chess at a level superior to chess masters and in a style not previously seen in chess history. On its own, in just a few hours of self-play, it achieved a level of skill that took human beings 1,500 years to attain. Only the basic rules of the game were provided to AlphaZero. Neither human beings nor human-generated data were part of its process of self-learning. If AlphaZero was able to achieve this mastery so rapidly, where will AI be in five years? What will be the impact on human cognition generally? What is the role of ethics in this process, which consists in essence of the acceleration of choices?
…AI developers, as inexperienced in politics and philosophy as I am in technology, should ask themselves some of the questions I have raised here in order to build answers into their engineering efforts. The U.S. government should consider a presidential commission of eminent thinkers to help develop a national vision. This much is certain: If we do not start this effort soon, before long we shall discover that we started too late.
***
(October 2) I give thanks to God, the Lord Jesus Christ, this day for my 45th birthday in him; born again, October 2, 1973.

Humanoid Robots Begin to Enter Labor Force in Ageing Japan — Who needs construction workers?  …coming….

https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/01/aist-hl/umanoid-robot-installs-drywall
Humanoid construction robot installs drywall by itself
It's clever, if also a commentary on Japan's labor priorities.
If Japan's Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute has its way, construction workers might be a thing of the past. Researchers have built HRP-5P, a humanoid bot that can handle a variety of construction tasks when there's either a staffing shortage or serious hazards. The prototype uses a mix of environment detection, object recognition and careful movement planning to install drywall by itself -- it can hoist up boards and fasten them with a screwdriver. … …
***
It is so easy to forget others’ troubles when it does not affect us directly, but for those suffering the aftermath of Indonesian earthquakes and tsunamis, this time might as well be the Apocalypse!  Lord, direct salvation in both earthly and heavenly matters to those who call on You there. We are glad your mercy is also often poured on those who know you not.  (“…earthquakes in diverse places,” said the Lord, indicating multiple, widespread, increasing numbers, diversities and intensities of quakes and related activities as the End of the Age arrives.  (Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/world/asia/tsunami-indonesia.html?emc=edit_th_181002&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981002
Indonesia Tsunami Survivors Are Burying the Dead and Desperate for Aid
PALU, Indonesia — The bodies piled up in the police hospital had begun to bloat and decompose when Sarah Wati arrived on Monday with a bullet wound in her foot.
In the wake of a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and a 20-foot tsunami on Friday that killed at least 1,234 people, the eastern Indonesian city of Palu was still reeling. Hungry residents were begging for aid, armed men were foraging shuttered stores, crowds besieged the airport and mass jail breaks left prisoners roaming free.
Ms. Wati had been in a jostling crowd, watching as around 20 people attacked an A.T.M. with pickaxes, she said. Nearby, the police shot in the air and then sprayed bullets to clear the plunderers and onlookers. Ms. Wati, 20, jobless and the mother of one, was hit in the melee.
Even with medicine administered at the hospital, she was in tears from the pain and shock.
Three days after the twin natural disasters, Palu, a city of about 380,000 people, was consumed with the task of identifying the dead and ministering to the living, some still trapped under sheets of fallen buildings. …

…“The situation in the affected areas is nightmarish,” said Jan Gelfand, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, citing the dire lack of food, water and shelter for survivors.
At least 2,500 homes in the region were destroyed, with some buried in mud, when the earthquake caused the ground to flow like a liquid, a process called liquefaction, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman of the disaster response agency, said.
Concern about aftershocks were revived on Tuesday morning, when a 6.0 quake rocked Sumba island roughly 1,000 miles south of Palu.
The quake, located at a depth of about 6 miles southwest of Sumba, prompted residents of the remote island to run in panic from their homes. No casualties were immediately reported.
Shortly before the Sumba quake, Donggala was hit by an aftershock measuring 5.3.
The quakes are part of a recent increase in seismic and volcanic activity in the region, including a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Lombok and the Gili Islands southwest of Sulawesi on August 5, killing more than 460 people. …

In this stiflingly hot city just south of the Equator, the authorities tried to dispose of bodies quickly, burying them in a mass grave after first taking DNA samples so that identities can be confirmed later.
“The smell of death is strong in the air,” said Radika Pinto, the area manager for World Vision, an international Christian aid organization. “I’m afraid the death toll is going to continue to rise dramatically.”

***
Isaiah’s picture of judgment on men for their own wickedness — “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”  Isaiah 3:12, Not a popular note in this day, but could this be near to a final outcome/judgment of the 19th Amendment?  Piglike, ungentlemanly men deserve the #MeToo Movement, but it is turning into hysterical, mass madness among some women; the senator from Hawaii would seem to be a prime example of raging irrationality eager to “articulate” (endlessly)?

https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/kavanaugh-battle-intensifies-historic-gender-gap-before-election#gs.Vz5xrPM
Kavanaugh Battle Expands Historic Gender Gap Before Election
(Bloomberg) -- The battle over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination is driving a wedge deeper into an already wide political chasm between men and women, leading to what could be an unprecedented gender gap in the 2018 midterm election vote.
With little more than a month before balloting to decide control of Congress, last week’s emotional Senate hearing and now an FBI probe of sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump’s nominee add to a combustible mix of social and political trends defining this year’s election. Those include the intense partisan split over the president, a potent movement to expose sexual harassment and assault and a record number of women running for office.
Even before California college professor Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school -- an allegation the nominee has vehemently denied -- polls showed women heavily favored Democratic congressional candidates in the Nov. 6 election.
Now, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said, “It’s going to be the largest gender gap in modern American history.”

Isaiah with context verses: “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.  As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.”

Will Manhood and Manliness become a crime in itself, a loathed thing now being equated with “toxic masculinity”?

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/409486-trump-very-scary-time-for-young-men-in-america
Trump defends Kavanaugh: ‘Very scary time for young men in America’
(Bloomberg) -- The battle over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination is driving a wedge deeper into an already wide political chasm between men and women, leading to what could be an unprecedented gender gap in the 2018 midterm election vote.
With little more than a month before balloting to decide control of Congress, last week’s emotional Senate hearing and now an FBI probe of sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump’s nominee add to a combustible mix of social and political trends defining this year’s election. Those include the intense partisan split over the president, a potent movement to expose sexual harassment and assault and a record number of women running for office.
Even before California college professor Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school -- an allegation the nominee has vehemently denied -- polls showed women heavily favored Democratic congressional candidates in the Nov. 6 election.
Now, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said, “It’s going to be the largest gender gap in modern American history.” … …
***
(October 3)
Intractability among American partisans becomes increasingly dangerous for leaders…civil insurrection brewing?

http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/senate-judiciary-members-escorted-through-protests-by-police
Senate Judiciary Members Escorted Through Protests by Police
A number of Republican senators received police escorts Tuesday afternoon to get them past demonstrators gathered in the basement of the Russell Building near the terminus of the Senate subway.
Among them were Republican members of the Judiciary Committee Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
In addition to uniformed Capitol Police, Graham was accompanied by the deputy sergeant at arms James Morhard.
At one point, protesters who said they were representing sexual abuse survivors started shouting at Graham in the Russell basement.
Morhard shouted back.
“I’m sorry, I’m talking to him, alright?”
Security Increases for Senate Judiciary Members as Tensions Heighten on the Hill
Walking through the tunnel, Graham told a small group of reporters that he had never seen anything quite like what he was now experiencing.
“This is dangerous. I had somebody that wouldn’t let an elevator shut. An Iraq War veteran. I appreciate his service, but I just have a different opinion of Judge Kavanaugh,” Graham said. “I tried to make that clear.”
Graham, who could be in line to be Judiciary Committee chairman next year, has been among the most vocal defenders of Kavanaugh.
“I believe Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court very soon. However, if his nomination were to fall short, I would encourage President Trump to re-nominate Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. It would — in effect — be appealing the Senate’s verdict directly to the American people,” the South Carolina Republican said in a statement earlier Tuesday. “The midterm elections are only 35 days away and a new group of senators may view Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination very differently after hearing from the voters in their states.” … …
***
Though it is a battle between Iranian partisans, France says, “Not in our country”!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/france-moves-against-iran-over-bomb-plot-near-102151437.html

France accuses Iran over bomb plot near Paris
Paris (AFP) - France has accused Iran's intelligence ministry of being behind a foiled plot to bomb an exiled opposition group near the French capital in a move that risks straining already complicated ties between Paris and Tehran.
The French government announced Tuesday it was freezing assets belonging to two suspected Iranian intelligence operatives, as well as others belonging to Iran's ministry of intelligence and security.
France's decision to take retaliatory measures and go public with the accusations was taken three months after the alleged plot to bomb a meeting of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) in a suburb of Paris.
"This extremely serious act envisaged on our territory could not go without a response," France's interior, foreign and economy ministers said in a rare joint statement.
"In taking this decision, France underlines its determination to fight against terrorism in all its forms, particularly on its own territory."
A French diplomatic source told AFP that the security forces had concluded that "the head of operations at the (Iranian) intelligence ministry ordered it". … …
***
Insane, Inane or both?  “Snowflakes” ban clapping as too upsetting —

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/clapping-banned-university-to-avoid-13344363
Clapping BANNED at university 'to avoid triggering anxiety' with students told to do jazz hands instead
Clapping as been banned at a leading universty's students' union "to avoid triggering anxiety".
The Univserity of Manchester Students' Union passed the resolution to ban clapping at student union events at the first Senate session of the academic year on September 27, according to student newspaper the Mancunion.
"It was argued that the loud noise of traditional clapping and whooping pose an issue to students with anxiety or sensory issues. BSL clapping – or, jazz hands – would be a more inclusive form of expression," the paper said.
Jazz hands is the British Sign Language for clapping.
***

An average onlooker would’ve thought the FBI would be racing till the last instant on this ordered probe of Kavanaugh, but they seem nearly done by Wednesday morning.  We continue in prayer, standing in the gap, that God will have his way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/kavanaugh-fbi-background-check.html?emc=edit_th_181003&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981003
F.B.I. to End Kavanaugh Inquiry as Soon as Wednesday, With Vote Coming This Week
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders pressed on Tuesday to wrap up the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, seizing on word from the F.B.I. that it would complete its investigation into allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct as early as Wednesday.
“We’ll have an F.B.I. report this week, and we’ll have a vote this week,” an emphatic Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told reporters after the Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon. … …

***
Our Planet becoming less and less like “home”? A quick round-up of NYT headlines for the day —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/world/europe/greece-lesbos-moria-refugees.html?emc=edit_th_181003&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981003
‘Better to Drown’: A Greek Refugee Camp’s Epidemic of Misery

MORIA, Greece — He survived torture in Congo, and a perilous boat journey from Turkey. But Michael Tamba, a former Congolese political prisoner, came closest to death only after he had supposedly found sanctuary at Europe’s biggest refugee camp.
Stuck for months at the camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Mr. Tamba, 31, tried to end his life by drinking a bottle of bleach. The trigger: Camp Moria itself.
“Eleven months in Moria, Moria, Moria,” said Mr. Tamba, who survived after being rushed to hospital. “It’s very traumatic.”
Mr. Tamba’s experience has become a common one at Moria, a camp of around 9,000 people living in a space designed for just 3,100, where squalid conditions and an inscrutable asylum process have led to what aid groups describe as a mental health crisis. … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/world/asia/indonesia-tsunami-earthquake-palu-dead.html?emc=edit_th_181003&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981003
A Mass Burial Every Day: 1,200 Dead, and Counting, in Indonesia
PALU, Indonesia — Nathan, 17, had run to safety when a powerful earthquake struck his high school on Friday in Palu, on the island of Sulawesi. But he couldn’t resist going back to rescue his motorbike.
He died when he was hit by falling debris from the school’s Advent Church, which also was his home. It took three days for his uncle, the pastor, to find his body.
On the outskirts of Palu on Tuesday morning, Nathan’s mother, Ling Ling, lay on the freshly turned dirt of his grave and wailed. She clutched at his headstone. Fistfuls of brown earth slipped between her fingers.
“I’m broken,” she cried at the Poboya Indah cemetery as her husband tried to console her. “I have no hope anymore. Let me be the one to die. My life is useless.” … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/hurricane-florence-flooding-carolinas.html?emc=edit_th_181003&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981003
Scenes Across the Carolinas
There were of course cities that dodged the worst, and people there celebrated in the drizzle and toasted the Waffle House and other open restaurants whose windows glowed like beacons.
But the names of other cities became synonymous with Florence’s waterlogged destruction: Wilmington; Lumberton; Jacksonville; New Bern.
When the rain finally stopped, people crept out of the cocoon of their homes to see the shredded, soaked landscape that was their new reality.
Power lines and 30-foot trees covered the roads. Neighbors’ roofs were caved in. Lawns were covered in trash and branches. Convoys of National Guard trucks rumbled through town, and boaters plied the streets. Some people cried as they surveyed the damage. Others numbly sloshed through their homes and started sweeping out water.

***
(October 4)
“Think not that I am come to bring peace on the earth (but rather a sword and division).”  See Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51.  Prayer:  Lord, please spare America until the Rapture, for the sake of those who love and serve you here.  Then, let the judgment come.
https://www.studyfinds.org/political-divide-america-worst-ever/
Far From United: Political Divide In America The Worst It’s Ever Been
EAST LANSING, Mich. — It may not be so hard to believe during this murky political landscape, but a new study finds the divide between Democrats and Republicans is the worst it’s ever been, more so than many people may even think.
The research, conducted by Zachary Neal, an associate professor of psychology and global urban studies at Michigan State University, is among the first to measure polarization not only by examining the frequency of parties working together, but also by demonstrating how they’ve grown more distant than any other time in modern history.
Neal points out that neither side is to blame for the growing rift. Regardless of the party that holds the majority in Congress or controls the White House, the political divide has widened all the same.
“What I’ve found is that polarization has been steadily getting worse since the early 1970s,” he explains in a university release. “Today, we’ve hit the ceiling on polarization. At these levels, it will be difficult to make any progress on social or economic policies.” … …
***
Assassination Attempt on Erdogan foe at protective U.S. refuge in Pennsylvania?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1026398/Fethullah-Gulen-police-incident-pennsylvania-saylorsburg-usa-incident-turkey-erdogan
Fethullah Gulen: MAJOR POLICE INCIDENT at Pennsylvania home of exiled Erdogan rival
A MAJOR police operation was undertaken in a compound holding Turkish dissident and Imam preacher Fethullah Gulen in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania – as police searched for a man dressed in black carrying a gun.

***
Poor Indonesia!  Now, a volcano seems triggered by recent seismic events.  Will much or all of the island nation subsume into the sea and destruction?  Lord, lift up and preserve your people and bring others there to repentance before your feet by these terrible events.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/107582992/volcano-erupts-on-same-indonesian-island-of-sulawesi-as-earlier-quake
Volcano erupts on same Indonesian island of Sulawesi as earlier quake
A volcano erupted on Wednesday on the same central Indonesian island struck last week by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, and authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air.
Mount Soputan on Sulawesi island spewed a massive column of ash more than 6000 metres into the sky. No evacuations were immediately ordered.
A government volcanologist said it's possible the eruption was accelerated by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck on Friday. … …
***
The Daily Mayhem now strikes 7 officers at once (and one bystander) in South Carolina.  Lord, spare those who are wounded; help them call upon you.

https://www.wbtw.com/news/pee-dee/florence-county-deputy-shot-near-hoffmeyer-road-in-florence/1495532293
Police officer deceased, identified after 7 law enforcement officers, 1 other shot in Florence
FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) - One suspect is in custody and a Florence police officer is deceased after eight people, seven of which were law enforcement officers, were shot in Florence Wednesday evening. 
Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken identified the officer who died as Terrence Carraway, 52, of Darlington. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital and an autopsy will be conducted on Thursday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. 
"Officer Carraway is a veteran officer of the City of Florence Police Department," said von Lutcken.
Florence County Emergency Management officials said on Facebook around 6 p.m. that a suspect is in custody and the "active shooting situation is over." Officials are asking people to stay away from the area as "there is still an active crime investigation in progress."
According to Chief Deputy Glenn Kirby with the Florence County Sheriff's Office the suspect surrendered to deputies after talking with a negotiator and has been taken to the hospital for treatment.
Kirby also says a 20-year-old male inside the home was also shot and is still alive. … …
***
Will the excuse of evolution bring in the hybridization science of the Nephilim (the fallen angels and especially their hybrid prodigy from the world before the Flood) again?  Jesus said it would be as in the days of Noah when it was time for his own return to save humanity. (Matthew 24:37, Rev. 11:18)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/science/chemistry-nobel-prize.html?emc=edit_th_181004&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981004
Use of Evolution to Design Molecules Nets Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 3 Scientists

excerpt: “I always wanted to be a protein engineer,” Dr. Arnold said in an interview. “Proteins are marvelous molecular machines, tremendously complex but responsible for all the functions of life. I wanted to be an engineer of the biological world.”
At first, Dr. Arnold attempted “rational design,” employing logic and knowledge of how proteins function to try to build new enzymes — proteins that act as catalysts for chemical reactions. But enzymes are large, complicated molecules — some consisting of thousands of amino acids — and it is hard to figure out how a shift in one twist of the molecule affects how it works.
In desperation, she said, she turned to evolution.
“I copied nature’s inventions, this wonderful process of evolution, to breed molecules like you breed cats and dogs,” she said.
For this “directed evolution” research, she inserted the gene that produced the enzyme she wanted to study into fast-reproducing bacteria. With mutations of the gene, she could then examine how well variations of the enzyme worked. She chose the one that worked best and repeated the process — just like evolution chooses the survival of the fittest over succeeding generations. … …
***
Early Thursday Morning — Lord, let your will be done in this matter…”on earth as in heaven.”  Let the evil one find no place.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/us/politics/trump-republicans-kavanaugh-confirmation.html?emc=edit_th_181004&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981004
White House Sends F.B.I. Interviews on Kavanaugh to Senate
WASHINGTON — The White House sent summaries of interviews conducted by the F.B.I. to the Senate early Thursday morning and expressed confidence that none of the information collected by agents should stand in the way of the Senate voting to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The material was conveyed to Capitol Hill in the middle of the night, just hours after Senate Republicans set the stage for a pair of votes later in the week to move to final approval of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. A statement issued by the White House around 2:30 a.m. said the F.B.I. had completed its work and that it represented an unprecedented look at a nominee.
“The White House has received the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s supplemental background investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, and it is being transmitted to the Senate,” Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, said in the statement, which was posted on Twitter. … …
***
(October 5)
Typhus, like the Plague, is spread by fleas.  Fortunately, unlike the Plague it does not spread from person to person.  It is spread by unsanitary conditions.  LA “hosts” a homeless population nearing 60,000.  Times become desperate even in America’s wealthy cities.
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/10/04/downtown-la-skid-row-typhus-outbreak/
Downtown LA Hit With Outbreak Of Flea-Borne Typhus
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — An outbreak of flea-borne typhus has hit downtown Los Angeles, the county Department of Public Health said Thursday.
Health officials say they are investigating several cases of flea-borne typhus, a disease that infected fleas can spread to humans. While the fleas can come from cats, rats, and opossums, pets and animals do not get sick from typhus
In people, however, typhus can cause high fever, chills, headache, and rash. It is not transmitted from person to person and can be treated with antibiotics.
“Although typhus normally occurs throughout L.A. County, we are observing several cases in the downtown Los Angeles area,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement. “We encourage pet owners to practice safe flea controland encourage all cities in the county to ensure maintenance of their trash clean-up and rodent control activities.”
Typhus can spread in areas where there is an accumulation of trash that attracts wild animals like feral cats, rats and opossums. … …
***
“Goats Head Soup”?  Long associated with satanic rituals; decapitated goats found polluting Tennessee’s Chattahoochee River, the water supply for five million people.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/south-fulton-county/10-decapitated-goats-found-in-around-chattahoochee-river-officials-say/846122236
Disturbing discovery in Chattahoochee River could impact your drinking water
concluding excerpt:  "Whoever did it, they are very cold-blooded," Davis said. "Whoever the person is needs to turn themselves in because they are obviously disturbed."
Goats are sometimes decapitated for certain religious ceremonies, but the practice is considered animal abuse. 
***
Near to Anarchy around Senate environs over Kavanaugh nomination?

https://apnews.com/20df6501963d4d939b2bd27244a61654/Passion,-chaos-as-Kavanaugh-confirmation-vote-nears
Passion, chaos as Kavanaugh confirmation vote nears
Concluding sentence: “This is almost rock bottom,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican who presided over last week’s hearing as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

***
(October 6)
Saints, due to an event I cannot miss, I must publish this issue on Saturday morning instead of the usual Sunday morning.  Later today, barring yet another surprise assault — some other kind of “spiritual judo” by adverse politicians —Judge Kavanaugh will be named Justice Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court.  I will continue to pray that he will.  Make no mistake, I do not regard him as perfected but rather his righteousness is by self-achievement to date, an RCC who models a good life but well may not know the righteousness of the New Birth which is in Christ Alone.  I will also not confuse right wing Conservatism with Biblical Conservatism.  They share some views, but anything politicized by man becomes tainted by man and man’s sin.  Nevertheless, there is some value in clinging “to the ancient paths” (Jeremiah 18:15)  as long as they are righteous paths.  And even “Progressives” and liberal, left wingers cite supposedly righteous reasons for their causes, and sometimes they are right observers too.

God is not swayed by politics, but man is.  The American nation is now deeply divided, and Kavanaugh’s bloody ascension to the Court is but a symptom of a nation at war with itself.  Will actual revolution come?  Surely, our enemies hope so and sow seed.  Christians have a severe, imminent, and ever duty to pray for the civil authorities under which we live, and which overall are appointed by God for either blessing or judgment.  Let us with St. Paul’s instructions, take heed to the hour which is upon us and pray daily for national salvation until the hour comes for us to depart to Heaven.  Then, let come God’s full judgment under the release of Antichrist.  Yet God’s final Victory is certain even then. 1 Timothy 2:1-6:  “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”  Let us stay the course with daily prayer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/us/politics/country-divided-kavanaugh.html?emc=edit_th_181006&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819981006
Bitter Tenor of Senate Reflects a Nation at Odds With Itself
As he helped speed Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s embattled nomination toward a vote this week, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, declared that the Senate was approaching “rock bottom” and needed to right itself.
Mr. Grassley, 85 and a senator for nearly four decades, said it was time for “mending things so we can do things in a collegial way, that the United States Senate ought to do.”
That sentiment, from a lawmaker who fiercely defended Judge Kavanaugh and helped block President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick B. Garland, drew skepticism or scorn from many in the political world. It also felt like a glaring understatement: Brute partisanship in the Senate is a symptom of a much larger national contagion.
To the right and left alike, Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination appears less like a final spasm of division — a sobering trauma, followed by calm resolution — than an event that deepens the national mood of turbulence. The country is gripped by a climate of division and distrust rivaled by few other moments in the recent past.

This time, historic grievances around race and gender are coming to a boil under the eye of a president who is dismissive of the concept of national unity. His political base passionately celebrates the combative way in which he has upended Washington, seeing it as a deserved rebuke of elite sensibilities. President Trump campaigned as a rough-speaking warrior against the political establishment and its consensus economic policies, and his supporters have mainly applauded him for governing the same way.
Beyond government, the country’s collective institutions — including the news media, the clergy and even professional sports and the entertainment industry — are in turmoil, with no obvious balm within reach. The Supreme Court, long a contested body, may now be viewed emphatically by one side as an institution under shadow. … …

Saturday,October 6 — NYTimes Quote of the Day —
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"Certain fundamental legal principles about due process, presumption of innocence do bear on my thinking and I cannot abandon them. 
We will be ill-served in the long run if we abandon the presumption of innocence."
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS, Republican of Maine, who said she would vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.

***	***	***

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 
to the house of the God of Jacob; 
and he will teach us of his ways, 
and we will walk in his paths: 
for out of Zion shall go forth the law, 
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  
Isaiah 2:3

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, 
to meet the Lord in the air: 
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18

************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

September 30

Saints,

Often burdened with the avalanches of hard news, I am sorry it must be done.  But, “forewarned is forearmed,” and some must remain awake in these days.  Even the wise virgins of the parable of Matthew 25 dozed off in the darkness approaching midnight, but a faithful God sent a cry as midnight arrived to waken them to go, and they had kept a supply of the Spirit.  Let us watch faithfully, praying for grace for ourselves and mercy for the whole writhing world until the hour comes.  “Know your enemy” and brace for the battle ahead.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”  
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

***

The Week — 

(September 24)
Both cash and brick-and-mortar banks giving way to Apps and App-banks…”And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name…” (Rev. 13:17)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/technology/online-banking-monzo.html?emc=edit_th_180924&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980924
App-Only Banks Rise in Europe and Aim at Traditional Lenders
LONDON — Greg Stevenson was trying to refinance the mortgage on his four-bedroom home in eastern England when things started going awry. An attempt by his bank, TSB, to shift data to a new computer system had gone spectacularly wrong. For several maddening days, he could not connect to his account, transfer funds or reach anybody at the bank for help.
“I felt abandoned,” said Mr. Stevenson, a 31-year-old software developer. “I needed to be moving money around, and I needed access to my bank.”
The systems failure in April, affecting nearly two million TSB customers, was a breaking point for Mr. Stevenson. He moved his money to Monzo, a British start-up that is among a growing number in Europe offering checking accounts and A.T.M. cards, but lack physical branches — everything is done through an app.
So-called fintech companies have sought to take on the world’s biggest banks for years, but only recently have companies like Monzo begun to build a critical mass. Millions of customers across Europe, most in their 20s or 30s, have signed up over the past two years. And thanks to favorable regulations in the region and an influx of venture capital, that shift is accelerating. … …

***
Discovered: A little bit of surgical simplicity that will help many heart patients “prop up this mortal tent” a little longer.  A little simple, scientific good news in a world without much.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/health/heart-failure-valve-repair-microclip.html?emc=edit_th_180924&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980924
Tiny Device Is a ‘Huge Advance’ for Treatment of Severe Heart Failure
A clip used to repair damaged heart valves sharply reduced deaths among patients with a grim prognosis.
	
Almost two million Americans have severe heart failure, and for them even mundane tasks can be extraordinarily difficult.
With blood flow impeded throughout their bodies, patients may become breathless simply walking across a room or up stairs. Some must sleep sitting up to avoid gasping for air.
Drugs may help to control the symptoms, but the disease takes a relentless course, and most people with severe heart failure do not have long to live. Until now, there has been little doctors can do.
But on Sunday, researchers reported that a tiny clip inserted into the heart sharply reduced death rates in patients with severe heart failure.
In a large clinical trial, doctors found that these patients also avoided additional hospitalizations and described a drastically improved quality of life with fewer symptoms.
The results, reported at a medical meeting in San Diego and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, were far more encouraging than heart specialists had expected.

“It’s a huge advance,” said Dr. Howard Herrmann, the director of interventional cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania, which enrolled a few patients in the study. “It shows we can treat and improve the outcomes of a disease in a way we never thought we could.”
If the device is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of severe heart failure, as expected, then insurers, including Medicare, most likely will cover it. … …
***
Will Masses of Individual Terminators hooked into the worldwide mind of “the image of the Beast” be the local nodes that perform the mass, worldwide executions of those “Tribulation Saints” who resist and will not take the Mark, Revelation 13:15?

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/731410/robots-killer-artificial-intelligence-subhash-kak-murder

Robot Manufacturers warned that “bug in AI code” will lead to Murder Sprees
Autonomous weaponry is poised to be thrust into the military market and used by the world's leading nations. Group Campaign to Stop Killer robots has even warned the murderous machines are on the cusp of "mass production". But an expert in artificial intelligence believes their introduction will come at a truly devastating cost.
Oklahoma University lecturer Dr Subhash Kak has warned a flaw in their design could result in a large number of deaths.Dr Kak told Daily Star Online: "The manufacturers are cognisant of such malfunction of fault which they will do their best to minimise or eliminate. "At the same time they would pressure parliament or other legislative bodies to give them exemption from liability.  "There could be a bug in the code of the robot that promotes such behaviour." His comments came after he previously told us: "Killer robots could easily go wrong. "They may be used by crazed individuals or religious extremists to terrorise and kill people. "They could go wrong due to a bug, or an unknown coding flaw that showed up as response to an unforeseen or unanticipated environment or situation. Senior arms researcher at Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Bonnie Docherty, previously warned killer robots will "proliferate around the world". And she believes they would violate ethical and legal standards.She said: "Permitting the development and use of killer robots would undermine established moral and legal standards.  "Countries should work together to preemptively ban these weapons systems before they proliferate around the world. "Their concerns, shared by many governments, deserve an immediate response." A number of countries, including the US and Russia, have recently opposed a treaty banning killer robots. It led Noel Sharkey, a roboticist, to slam them as "shameful". He said: "The two main options on the table for next year’s work were binding regulations in the form of a political declaration led by Germany and France and negotiations towards a new international law to prohibit the use and development of autonomous weapons systems led by Austria, Brazil and Chile.  "Cuba was particularly stubborn and would not accept any wording that even hinted that there might be any benefits.  "The others concede in the end with a compromise to take out the word 'risks' although the risks themselves remained.  "It is shameful that a handful of states can prevent the majority from moving towards negotiations that would regulate or prevent the use of these morally reprehensible weapons." He added: "The campaign strongly objects to permitting the development of weapons systems that, once activated, would be able to select and attack targets without human intervention."

***
Praise God!  An Indonesian teenage commercial fisherman survives 49-days-at-sea on an adrift fishing platform.  He had his parents’ instruction on prayer and a Bible on board to sustain him.  Now, that’s faith.  God delivers him.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/24/indonesian-teenager-survives-49-days-adrift-at-sea-in-fishing-hut
Indonesian teenager survives 49 days adrift at sea in fishing hut
Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, was working alone in a ‘rompong’ when heavy winds snapped its mooring
		
An Indonesian teenager has survived 49 days adrift at sea in a fishing hut, before he was rescued by a Panamanian-flagged vessel and returned home.
Aldi Novel Adilang, a 19-year-old from Sulawesi, worked as a lamp keeper on a floating fish trap, known locally as rompong, located 125km out at sea.
The teenager was employed to light the rompong’s lamps, designed to attract the fish, and according to his father had done the job since he was sixteen.
Each week someone from his company would come to harvest the fish from the traps and deliver him fresh supplies of food, water and fuel.
The small, floating wooden hut – one of 50 owned by the company and spread across the waters of Manado – was anchored to the seabed by a long rope and suspended by bouys.
But in mid-July heavy winds snapped its moorings and sent Aldi adrift into the ocean.
The teenager only had a few days worth of supplies and survived by catching fish, burning wood from his hut to cook them, and sipping seawater through his clothes to minimize his salt intake.
The Indonesian consulate in Osaka said that 10 ships had sailed past the Indonesian teenager before a Panamanian-flagged vessel, MV Arpeggio, finally picked him up in the waters off Guam on 31 August – more than a month and a half later.
“Every time he saw a large ship, he said, he was hopeful, but more than 10 ships had sailed past him, none of them stopped or saw Aldi,” Fajar Firdaus, an Indonesian diplomat from the consulate in Osaka, told the Jakarta Post.
Aldi initially waved a cloth at MV Arpeggio but after failing to attract the attention of its crew, sent an emergency radio signal.
Interviewed by local news portal TribunManado, Aldi said he thought he “was going to die out there”. At one point he said was suicidal and considered jumping into the ocean, but remembered his parents’ advice to pray in times of distress. He had a bible on board so he did.
After rescuing him the captain contacted the Guam coast guard, and as the ship was headed to Japan, it was decided the teenager would be handed over to consulate officials on arrival in Tokuyama on 6 September.
Stranded in the middle of the ocean without supplies and unsure of his fate, “Aldi was scared and cried often” during the experience, said Firdaus.
The teenager flew home to Manado on 8 September, accompanied by consulate officials, and is reportedly in good health.
***
This Monday morning, political wolves dredge up another testimony against Judge Kavanaugh, and are clearly looking for a parade as they attempt to slow his installation as Supreme Court Justice and bring down the government to their will for the midterms.  Disgusting.
As Christians, I / We pray that God would cast down this evil slander campaign.  May He expose this spirit and cause the People and the Congress also to see it for what it is.  Amen.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez
Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years
As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying. … …
***
Monday Midday —  There is talk of the Supreme Court itself coming into existential crisis over the Congressional “Assassins” of Judge Kavanaugh.  Now too, Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General faces removal for memos coming out that he may have colluded in plans to overthrow his own President, offering to wear wires into meetings and willing to exercise the 25th Amendment on Impeachment.  Is American Democracy coming apart now as the Democrats also act like a pack of hungry wolves to tear apart the President and his men?  Or will God yet use “housecleanings” to straighten out the Federal Government?  I pray so.  Join me in prayer even as you read this.  Earlier, I prayed concerning the then Secretary of State, who in his earlier “philanthropic” volunteer work, otherwise the CEO of a very major corporation, worked to make the sodomites (LGBTQ etc. ad nauseam) a part of the Boy Scouts.  He is gone from that government position now (though the Boy Scouts remain debauched).  LET US PRAY FERVENTLY AND DILIGENTLY THAT THE COUNTRY WILL YET BE PRESERVED AND DELIVERED FROM THESE ONSLAUGHTS OF TREASON, DEBAUCHERY, ETC.  OTHERWISE, OUR DEMISE AS A NATION OF LIBERTY MAY BE NEAR.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/deputy-attorey-general-rod-rosenstein-expects-to-be-fired-monday-1537801806
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Expects to Be Fired, Clouding Mueller Investigation
Move follows disclosure of memos saying he suggested wiretapping President Trump
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is at the White House and expects to be fired by President Trump, a person familiar with the matter said, creating an uncertain situation at the top of the Justice Department and in the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The situation remained fluid, however, as another person familiar with the matter said Mr. Rosenstein is expected to resign, and that discussions have been under way about his departure all weekend. … …

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/ronan-farrow-new-kavanaugh-accuser-came-forward-because-democrats-came-looking/
Ronan Farrow: New Kavanaugh Accuser Came Forward Because Democrats ‘Came Looking’

https://www.wsj.com/articles/kavanaugh-confirmation-process-encounters-more-uncertainty-1537798999

Kavanaugh Confirmation Process Encounters More Uncertainty

Democrats call for delay as new allegation surfaces ahead of Thursday testimony from accuser Ford
excerpt: “What we are witnessing is the total collapse of the traditional confirmation process for a Supreme Court nominee,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a member of Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Monday. “It is being replaced by a game of delay, deception, and wholesale character assassination.”
***
A church forbidden by Indian law from evangelizing and also physically attacked by radical Hindus, proclaims Christ by praying for and receiving healing for those who come to ask for it—

http://www.christiantelegraph.com/2018/07/21/pastor-in-hiding-from-hindu-extremists-and-police-after-attack-on-his-church-in-india/
via bereancall.org  
Today's Update: Pastor in Hiding from Hindu Extremists – and Police – after Attack on His Church in India
(excerpt):Pastor Gautam said the church has grown even though they do not go out to preach.
“We do not do any kind of evangelism or conversion – people bring their sick, we pray for them and they are healed,” he said. “Some continue to come, others choose to stop coming after receiving healing.”

***
(September 25)
Rosh Playing Poker with Israel?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/middleeast/russia-syria-missiles-israel.html?emc=edit_th_180925&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980925
Russia Promises Advanced Missiles to Syria After Rift With Israel
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin said Monday that Russia would supply the Syrian military with a sophisticated air defense system, a move that reflects Russia’s increasing tensions with Israel and that could heighten the risks of the air war over Syria.
Israel, which has long opposed the weapons transfer, has carried out more than 200 strikes on Iranian-affiliated targets in Syria in the past two years as Russia, Syria’s main patron, has mostly looked the other way.
But relations between Russia and Israel have frayed since a Russian military plane was shot down over Syria a week ago, killing 15 Russian service members. The plane was accidentally shot down by Syria in response to an Israeli airstrike.
After Russia initially blamed Israel, Mr. Putin appeared last week to accept the loss as an accident.
But on Monday, Russia’s defense minister said the decision to send the sophisticated S-300 missiles to Syria was made in response to Israel’s disregard for the safety of Russian military personnel. Israeli pilots, he said, had intentionally maneuvered near the Russian plane to shield themselves from attack by Syria, putting the Russian crew at risk.

“The Israeli crews, who knew perfectly well the situation in the air, found cover behind the Russian airplane, which led to its destruction and the deaths of 15 members of the service,” said the defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu. “This compelled us to take reasonable measures in response, intended to improve the safety of Russian soldiers.”
Israel has rejected this analysis, saying its jets had already returned to Israeli airspace before the missile was fired.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a telephone call with Mr. Putin on Monday that “transferring advanced weapons systems into irresponsible hands will increase the dangers in the region,” according to a statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office.
He added that Israel would “continue to defend its security and its interests,” implying that it would not be deterred from continuing to attack Iranian-affiliated targets, including advanced weapons destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed movement in Lebanon, for possible future use against Israel.
Israeli analysts said the transfer of Russia’s powerful S-300 ground-to-air missile systems to Syria would add an extra layer of risk and complexity to such operations. … …

***
Deals Among Foes of The Faith?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/asia/china-vatican-agreement-appoint-catholic-bishops.html?emc=edit_th_180925&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980925
With Vatican Talks and Bulldozers, China Aims to Control Christianity
BEIJING — Over the last two years, China’s estimated 60 million Christians have felt the power of a newly assertive government eager to bring their faith to heel.
The authorities have demolished hundreds of Protestant churches, knocking crosses off steeples and evicting congregations. Roman Catholics have faced similar measures, but the government took a different approach this past weekend, striking a diplomatic deal that Vatican officials said was a historic breakthrough — the first formal acknowledgment by Beijing of the pope’s authority in Catholic churches in China.
Beijing’s goal in the agreement, however, appears to be the same as with the church demolitions: greater control over the rapid spread of Christianity, which gained a permanent presence in China in the 16th century.
“We’re at a turning point,” said Ying Fuk-tsang, the director of the divinity school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “The administration feels that the government had been too lax in the past and now wants to increase the pressure.”
Under the agreement signed on Saturday, Pope Francis recognized the legitimacy of seven bishops appointed by Beijing in exchange for a say in how future Chinese bishops are named.
The ruling Communist Party sees the compromise with the Vatican as a step toward eliminating the underground churches where Chinese Catholics who refuse to recognize the party’s authority have worshiped for generations. With the pope now recognizing all bishops and clergy members in the official Catholic churches approved and controlled by the party, the underground church may have no reason to exist.
The move is part of a broader push by the government to clamp down on all aspects of society since Xi Jinping took power as the party’s leader in 2012. Mr. Xi has presided over a far-reaching crackdown on corruption, civic organizations and independent journalism, but his approach toward religion has been more selective.
With many Chinese searching for values and traditions amid a sometimes confusing and chaotic period of economic change, Mr. Xi has encouraged the growth of some religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism, even as he has taken steps to ensure that they toe the party line. Last month, China’s famous Shaolin monastery raised the national flag for the first time in its 1,500-year history.
Mr. Xi has taken a much harsher position on Islam, which the authorities associate with the challenge of governing ethnic minorities, some of whom have embraced separatist or terrorist groups in China’s far west. The government is detaining vast numbers of Muslims for re-education, its most sweeping internment program since the Mao era.
Christianity poses a different set of challenges. It has spread most quickly among white-collar professionals in China’s biggest cities and most prosperous regions, many of whom worship in underground churches outside government control, and the government’s tactics reflect the differing fates of its branches.
Catholicism gave China its first permanent Christian presence 400 years ago and benefited mightily after Western military forces required China to allow in missionaries. The global church poured in talent and money, opening churches, schools and hospitals across the land.
After the Communist takeover in 1949, however, Catholicism’s established hierarchy in China became a weakness. When diplomatic ties were cut in 1951, the government expelled hundreds of foreign priests and bishops. It took control of the church’s top-down structure and began appointing clerics loyal to its vision of a Chinese church with no foreign ties.
***
(September 27)
The Death of Gender, in the Supreme Court hearings, as ravening so-called democrats, blood dripping from their teeth, drag forth one tawdry woman after another in their assault on Kavanaugh.  The hearing is this morning at 9:45.  I pray God would destroy the works of the devil, even if He brings on judgment.  I have other duties at that hour and cannot watch the scene, and this will all be “old news” by my Sunday a.m. publish button, but we pray for God to defend the righteous and show us the way.  Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated story, Houston resists the spread of robot brothels.  The tie?  Humans about to give up their natural affection for each other…for machines, to dehumanize and destroy Gender — God’s assignment and gift for this Age — from among us.  Lord, spare your people as the Beast rises,  Come Soon, Lord Jesus!  Maranatha!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6206357/America-tears-apart-Trumps-belligerent-drunk-Brett-Kavanaugh.html
America tears itself apart over Trump's 'belligerent drunk sexual assaulter' Supreme Court nominee: A THIRD woman is set to 'risk her life' and accuse Brett Kavanaugh after even his Yale roommate turned on him

Avenatti, a (s)pawn of Lucifer himself, “the accuser of the brethren”?
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/26/ex-boyfriend-filed-restraining-order-against-kavanaugh-accuser-845348
Ex-boyfriend filed restraining order against third Kavanaugh accuser
Julie Swetnick, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a friend of attending house parties where women — including herself — were sexually assaulted, had a restraining order filed against her years later in Miami by her former boyfriend.
A Miami-Dade County court docket shows a petition for injunction against Swetnick was filed March 1, 2001, by her former boyfriend, Richard Vinneccy, who told POLITICO Wednesday the two had dated for four years before they broke up.
Thirteen days later, the case was dismissed, not long after an affidavit of non-ability to advance fees was filed.
According to Vinneccy, Swetnick threatened him after they broke up and even after he got married to his current wife and had a child.
“Right after I broke up with her, she was threatening my family, threatening my wife and threatening to do harm to my baby at that time,” Vinneccy said in a telephone interview with POLITICO. "I know a lot about her.”
"She’s not credible at all,” he said. “Not at all.”
The allegation is likely to raise questions among Republican defenders of Kavanaugh about Swetnick’s credibility after her attorney Michael Avenatti revealed her for the first time on Wednesday. … …

Ten more planned for US by 2020 after initial opening in Toronto at present.  A foolish end to Humanity?
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/09/26/houston-mayor-says-so-called-robot-sex-brothel-slated-to-open-is-not-wanted.html
'Robot sex brothel' slated to open is not wanted, Houston's mayor says
The mayor of Houston is exploring options in an effort to “restrict or regulate” the first so-called “robot sex brothel” in the United States that is slated to open this month in the city. … …

Final Sicknesses?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/26/mystic-messenger-dating-simulations-sims-digital-intimacy
Love in the time of AI: meet the people falling for scripted robots
A crop of dating simulations where the goal is to reach a virtual happily ever after have recently become hits. Are they a substitute for human companionship or a new type of digital intimacy?
I recently met a young woman named Wild Rose on an online chat forum. We struck up a conversation and within the first five minutes, Wild Rose – who is married, has a daughter, and lives in Texas with her in-laws – started telling me about her lover, a man called Saeran.
Saeran, she told me, is the illegitimate son of a politician who had grown up with an abusive mother. He is handsome, has white blond hair, golden eyes, a large tattoo on his shoulder. Wild Rose said that when she first met him, her “heart literally ached” and her cheeks “flooded with blood”.
She then paused and added: “But I don’t think Saeran loves me the way I love him. I love him genuinely. I’ll never know his true feelings.”
The reason: Saeran isn’t human. He is a character in a mobile phone game called Mystic Messenger, which was released two years ago by Cheritz, a South Korean game developer. It has since been downloaded by millions of people worldwide. The game is a mix between a romance novel and Spike Jones’s 2013 mover Her, in which a man develops a relationship with a Siri-like character.
The primary aim of Mystic Messenger is to pursue a romantic relationship with one of a number of characters in the game, one of whom is Saeran. To cultivate intimacy with these virtual beings, you talk to them via a text message. The responses are pre-scripted, but feel dynamic and sincere. Winning the game is not about scoring points or beating a final boss; it is about reaching a “good ending” where you and your virtual lover live happily ever after. … …

***
Truth or dark fiction?  A NYTimes report on “The Memphis Three.” Accused of satanic killing of children, they became exonerated after years in prison to go back to practicing “magick,” Aleister Crowley’s spelling for serious occult paganism versus mere card-tricks-magic.  New to this story, I immediately wonder if the leader’s name is a given one or a pseudonym for “echoes of demons.”  He has a growing following of darkened souls.  Read cautiously.  But, “know your enemy,” Ephesians 5:1-17.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/style/damien-echols.html?emc=edit_th_180927&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980927
Now Damien Echols Will Teach You the Secrets of Magick
***
The NYTimes “exposes itself” this morning with this story!  How the MSM (Mainstream Media) works its spells to destroy any harmony between humans and their genders!  My inbox of NYTimes’ lead stories this morning is also fairly roiling with hatred toward Trump and Kavanaugh.  I find it astounding that the MSM would be so bold and so evident in the raging hatreds (and spell-castings) of their editorials and features!  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/us/metoo-survivors-kavanaugh-cosby.html?emc=edit_th_180927&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980927
When the News Itself Is a Form of Trauma
The daily bombardment of news about sexual violence is causing some women to relive their own trauma. Others are simply enraged. Carrying these emotions can be utterly exhausting.
Just on Tuesday, there was a barrage of stories about the allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. If you flipped the channel, there was wall-to-wall coverage of Bill Cosby’s prison sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in his home.
Victims of sexual violence, women and men included, are struggling to cope with the rapid pace of news that can provoke flashbacks to their own experiences, said Dr. Christine Nicholson, a clinical psychologist who works near Seattle.
Dr. Nicholson, who treats victims of sexual violence, said several of her clients had brought up the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh in their sessions. Their emotional responses to events of the #MeToo era vacillate between extreme anger and helplessness, she said.
“It’s a very difficult time,” she said. “I’m having people call me after hours where they’re just feeling meltdowns and a sense of hopelessness.”
***
A Tiny Bit of Good News, A Little Respite on the way towards the Mark?  India’s high court slows down Aadhaar System.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/technology/india-id-aadhaar-supreme-court.html?emc=edit_th_180927&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980927
India’s Top Court Limits Sweep of Biometric ID Program

MUMBAI, India — In a landmark ruling on Wednesday, India’s Supreme Court placed strict limits on the government’s national biometric identity system while also finding that the sweeping program did not fundamentally violate the privacy rights of the country’s 1.3 billion residents.
A five-justice panel of the court decided by 4-1 to approve the use of the program, called Aadhaar, for matters involving the public purse, such as the distribution of food rations and other government benefits and the collection of income taxes.
But the panel struck down Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to require the digital ID for other purposes, including verifying the identity of students taking exams, and established new protections meant to prevent the government from misusing the data in the name of national security.
The justices also threw out a powerful provision in the 2016 Aadhaar Act that had allowed private companies like banks and cellphone companies — sometimes at the government’s behest — to use the ID to verify customer identities. That was at least a temporary blow to the dreams of technology billionaires, like Nandan Nilekani and Vinod Khosla, who saw the system as crucial to a new generation of digital businesses like online vehicle insurance and pre-employment background checks. … …
***
Climate Change About to Rewrite the Physicality of Our Civilization?  Will there soon be no going home?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/us/flooding-carolinas-florence-evacuees.html?emc=edit_th_180927&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980927
Florence’s Slow-Motion Havoc Leaves Thousands of Evacuees in Limbo

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Felicia Brewington has not seen even a cellphone picture of her home in Lumberton, one of North Carolina’s flooded cities. She does not know just how high the waters rose during Hurricane Florence, or whether the house was damaged, or whether her family will have anywhere to stay once they finally make the 126-mile drive back.
It has been that way — waiting and worrying — for about two weeks, since she and her family fled the looming storm.
“You feel helpless, in a sense, and you feel like you’re imposing,” Ms. Brewington said on Tuesday afternoon at an American Red Cross shelter at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “You just want to get back home.”
With the storm still wreaking slow-motion havoc long after its winds dwindled away, Ms. Brewington and thousands of other evacuees across the Carolinas are in an exhausting, dispiriting limbo — a sad staple of most natural disasters but with a pace that seems particularly cruel this time.
Since it made landfall on Sept. 14, the storm and its aftermath have been blamed for at least 45 deaths in the Carolinas, and about 1,800 people remain in shelters at schools, recreation centers and National Guard armories. Uncounted thousands more evacuees are staying with relatives or friends, or have crowded into hotels, while their homes molder, insurance adjusters crisscross the region and, in some downstream communities, the floodwaters rise again.
Near Conway, S.C., the Waccamaw River is expected to crest at 21.2 feet, at least three feet higher than its previous record, on Wednesday afternoon. Just to the southwest, the Pee Dee River near Bucksport has topped its previous record by more than two feet. And to the southeast, the authorities in Georgetown County, S.C., urged about 8,000 people — roughly one-eighth of the county’s population — to leave their homes for a second time, with high water approaching from upriver rather than from the sea.
“It’s almost like we have a silent assassin coming our way,” Mayor Brendon M. Barber Sr. of Georgetown, the county seat, said on Wednesday, with the city’s boarded-up businesses all but abandoned in anticipation of flooding. … …
***
(Evening of September 27)
We have just seen a most remarkable day in U.S. history, the interviewing of Kavanaugh and his accuser.  It went very well for Kavanaugh.  I watched an initial bit, and then tried to leave for other chores thinking I could still remember the matter in prayer as i went, but the Lord would not let me.  My vehicle got stuck in a very strange circumstance, and I could not free it until I began to see the Lord’s hand and promised Him I would stay and pray for the live testimony as it came forth.  Then, I got the vehicle loose, pulled it back into the garage, and sat down (and paced) to watch and pray.  It is amazing how obedient, active, and imminent prayer on a live situation can change things.  And I have no special gift, just believer’s prayer.  I got to pray for confusion among his adversaries and see it happen and their mouths closed.  I got to pray Kavanaugh out of getting too close to arrogance.  Amazing.  We should certainly do more of it, but no doubt many other faithful were being led the same way.  Tomorrow, the vote.  May God have his way.  May Kavanaugh and the Administration be humbled in the sight of the LORD.  May the adversaries find reason to remember the Gospel’s ways.
***
(September 28)
The ultimate (and penultimate) ends of the  #MeToo Movement:  “Men are trash!”  Yes, men are sinners, but so are all humans.  The attempt to destroy gender and its distinctions is utter witchcraft with its mass spells (spiels), and will destroy both men and women and humanity itself.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/27/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-capitol-849336
'Men Are Trash' vs. 'I Stand With Brett': Wild scene at the Capitol for Kavanaugh drama
Protesters on both sides made their case with provocative slogans and chants as Senators sought to preserve decorum.
Outside the Dirksen Senate Office building on Thursday morning, Cameron Mixon, a 22-year-old Georgetown Law School student was sporting a T-shirt with the slogan: “Men Are Trash.”
“I love your shirt!” one woman told Mixon. “It’s amazing,” another agreed. By 9:30 a.m., Mixon said, about 20 people had asked to take photos next to her.
Even by the super-charged standards of American politics, passions were red lining on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on an allegation of a 1980s sexual assault that has placed Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination in grave danger.
“Kava-No!” shouted the protesters who marched Thursday morning from the steps of the Supreme Court to the Dirksen Senate office building, where the target of their ire would soon face a kind of political trial. ““We believe Anita Hill! We believe Christine Ford!” … …
***

“Intractable” The jealously of Ishmael will not be assuaged until the King Reigns in Jerusalem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-general-assembly.html?emc=edit_th_180928&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980928
Israeli-Palestinian Divide Deepens, With No Sign of Compromise at U.N.
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders gave diametrically different appraisals of their protracted conflict on Thursday, with speeches at the United Nations General Assembly that suggested the dispute is more intractable than ever.
There were no hints of compromise in speeches by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Abbas, who spoke first, described as racist a new Israeli law on self-determination. Mr. Netanyahu upbraided him as a hypocrite. What Mr. Abbas vilified as a brutal occupier, Mr. Netanyahu exalted as a vibrant democracy.
While Mr. Abbas pilloried the Trump administration for actions that he said had stripped Palestinians of their rights, Mr. Netanyahu thanked President Trump and Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, for their support.
The competing portrayals partly reflected new complexities in the dispute in the 20 months since Mr. Trump took office. While he has promised a broad peace proposal, Mr. Trump has taken actions that have been welcomed by Israel and denounced by Palestinians.
Mr. Trump moved the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, gratifying Israelis who view the disputed holy city as their eternal capital but enraging Palestinians who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. He has pulled back financial aid to Palestinians, including millions of dollars to the United Nations agency responsible for helping those classified as refugees. He has not objected to Israeli settlement construction.
And he has suggested that he is not bound by the two-state model that has been an integral part of international diplomacy to resolve the conflict for many years — although on Wednesday Mr. Trump signaled that he liked that solution.
“Jerusalem is not for sale and the Palestinian people’s rights are not up for bargaining,” Mr. Abbas said in the opening of his speech.
Mr. Abbas spoke of having met with Mr. Trump numerous times. He said he had patiently awaited the American president’s peace plan, but was “shocked by decisions and actions he undertook that completely contradict the role and commitment of the United States towards the peace process.” … …
***
7.5 Ring of Fire Quake Hits Indonesia 

http://news.trust.org/item/20180928102333-dfxjy
Major quake prompts tsunami warning off Indonesia
JAKARTA, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A major 7.7 magnitude quake struck off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, prompting a tsunami alert, hours after a milder quake hit the same area.
Indonesia's meteorology agency issued an early tsunami warnings for people in Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi provinces, asking people to evacuate to higher ground.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7.
The earlier quake destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10, authorities said.
A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi. … …

Ten Foot Tsunami Comes Ashore

http://www.usworldnewstoday.com/10-foot-tsunami-sweeps-away-houses-in-indonesia/
10-Foot Tsunami Sweeps Away Houses in Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia — JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, triggering a 10-foot tsunami that an official said swept away houses in at least two cities.
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the tsunami hit Palu, the capital of central Sulawesi province, and a smaller city, Donggala.
He said houses were swept away and families were reported missing. It was difficult to immediately assess the extent of the casualties or the damage that was done because communications were disrupted.
Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting Palu as people screamed and ran in fear. The water smashed into buildings, including a large mosque. … …

***
Republican Senator Flake flakes out Friday afternoon and caves to hysterical elevator lobbying to set back the Kavanaugh confirmation for another week in seemingly endless delaying ploys.  Our prayer:  God’s will be done on Earth as in Heaven.
***
(September 29)
Does this increasingly terrible debacle over Kavanaugh signal the end of the American Political System?  Justice Kennedy warns from his wisdom.  These are truly frightening days.  Let the Christian fix his eyes on the Lord…and Pray.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kennedy-warns-dangers-democracy-wont-talk-kavanaugh-230229851.html
Kennedy warns of dangers to democracy, won't talk Kavanaugh
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement created the vacancy that produced the no-holds-barred confirmation fight over Brett Kavanaugh, said Friday maintaining civil discourse is critical to democracy's survival.
Kennedy never spoke directly about Kavanaugh, who was once his law clerk, or the bitter battle unfolding in Congress. But it was on the minds of his audience, a group of high school students and teachers who said civil discourse isn't what they're seeing in Washington.
"Nobody's behaving like adults," said Maya Steinhart, a 17-year-old high school senior who will vote for the first time in November. "It's absolute chaos and it makes no sense and it's terrifying and it's not working."
Kennedy's appearance in Sacramento, his hometown, was to celebrate Constitution Day and teach high school students about the importance of understanding the document. He did not take questions from the audience or the press, saying he was "very careful" not to comment on the Kavanaugh nomination. … …
***
Initial toll of Indonesian quake and tsunami rises to 400

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/world/asia/tsunami-palu-indonesia-earthquake.html?emc=edit_th_180929&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980929
Tsunami and Earthquake in Indonesia Kill Nearly 400, Officials Say
BANGKOK — Indonesian officials said Saturday that nearly 400 people had been killed in a strong earthquake and a tsunami on the central island of Sulawesi. Rescue workers had yet to reach some areas thought to have been affected, and it was feared that the toll could still rise.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Indonesian disaster agency, said 384 people were confirmed dead in the city of Palu, where preparations for a beach festival had been underway when the tsunami hit Friday evening, on the heels of a 7.5-magnitude earthquake. Mr. Sutopo said 540 people were injured and 29 were still missing.
But those figures applied to Palu alone, and there were other vulnerable coastal areas where communications were down. Officials had been unable to make contact with Donggala, a fishing community near Palu that was also reported to have been hit by the tsunami. … …

***
Facebook hacked; 50 million accounts compromised

https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-says-50-mn-accounts-breached-attack-182212167.html
Up to 50 mn Facebook accounts breached in attack
***

(September 30)
Indonesian Death Toll Doubles Overnight.  “Waves of the sea roaring…and men’s hearts failing them for fear at the things coming on the earth,” say the Lord. (Much photo and video coverage with this piece.)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6221127/Dozens-dead-huge-tsunami-unleashes-terrifying-waves-tear-Sulawesi-Indonesia.html
Drone footage shows Indonesia tsunami devastation after 10ft wave wipes out a beach festival - sweeping away partygoers, obliterating two towns killing 832
***
Year of the Volcano — planet-wide, especially in regions near the Ring of Fire.  Huge Mexico City in target zone.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/volcano-spews-ash-mexico-city-185231831.html
Volcano spews ash on Mexico City
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Ash spewing from the Popocatepetl volcano has reached the southern neighborhoods of Mexico's capital.
The National Center for Disaster Prevention warned Mexicans on Saturday to stay away from the volcano after activity picked up in the crater and it registered 183 emissions of gas and ash over 24 hours.
The center was monitoring multiple rumblings and tremors. Images on social media showed thin layers of ash coating car windshields in neighborhoods of Mexico City such as Xochimilco.
Geophysicists have noticed an increase in activity at the volcano that sits 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of the capital since a 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked central Mexico in September 2017. The volcano known as "Don Goyo" has been active since 1994. … …
***
What’s a “global citizen”?  I admit to living in the bush, relatively speaking, but I hadn’t heart the term, labelling a big concert in NYC, till last night’s network news.  Sounds like a citizen of Antichrist lining up for the Mark.  Press touts it as ongoing over several years as though it is a usual event.  MSM and “the ministry of Truth”?  Anyway, giving away free tickets seems to draw a crowd, but they all got some serious jitters when they thought an attack was occurring…maybe a divine spoof?  God laughs at such in Psalm 2.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/09/29/false-alarm-global-citizen-festival/
False Alarm At Global Citizen Festival Triggers Stampede, Chaos
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A stampede triggered by a false alarm brought Saturday night’s Global Citizen Festival in Central Park to a sudden stop.
Thousands of people went running to get out of the park when concert goers thought they heard gunshots at the crowded event.
The NYPD has confirmed that the loud noise was actually a barrier near the stage that fell over. Police rushed onto the stage to urge concert goers to remain calm and inform them it was only a fence that fell.
The chaos broke out on the park’s Great Lawn around 7:30 p.m.
Some social media accounts reported there were people yelling someone had a gun and to get out. Several people reportedly suffered non-life threatening injuries in the commotion.
Upwards of 60,000 people have attended the festival in the past, as many of the tickets are free. Global Citizens is a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030 featuring several big-name performers. … …(emphasis added…ed. note…political, socialist usual jibber-jabber?)
***
Swetnick, Avenatti’s latest find, seems to have made false accusations toward others earlier —

https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2018/09/julie_swetnick_one_of_kavanaug.html
Julie Swetnick, a Brett Kavanaugh accuser, faced misconduct allegations at Portland company
Julie Swetnick, one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, faced allegations of her own misconduct during a short stint at a Portland tech company 18 years ago.
Swetnick, 55, became the third woman in recent weeks to raise allegations against Kavanaugh. She issued a statement Wednesday in which she claimed she'd observed Kavanaugh at alcohol-fueled parties where women were mistreated. Her attorney is Michael Avenatti, a fierce critic of President Donald Trump who is reportedly considering a presidential run in 2020. Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who claims to have had an affair with Trump before he took office.
The lawsuit was dismissed shortly after it was filed late in 2000, court documents show. In emails to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Avenatti called the allegations against his client, "Completely bogus."
"This lawsuit never had any merit as evidenced by how quickly it was dismissed," Avenatti wrote. "It was originally filed in retaliation for my client making claims against the company."
Swetnick worked at Portland-based Webtrends for a few months in 2000, according to a civil suit the Portland company filed against her late that year. The company said she was hired as a professional services engineer to work off-site. It's not clear whether she ever worked in Webtrends' Portland office.
In the suit, Webtrends alleged Swetnick claimed to have graduated from Johns Hopkins University but the company said it subsequently learned the school had no record of her attendance. Webtrends said she also "falsely described her work experience" at a prior employer.
The suit also alleges Swetnick "engaged in unwelcome, sexually offensive conduct" while at Webtrends and "made false and retaliatory allegations that other co-workers had engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her."
The suit alleges Swetnick "engaged in unwelcome sexual innuendo and inappropriate conduct" directed at two male employees during a business lunch, with Webtrends customers present. Swetnick claimed two other employees had sexually harassed her, according to the suit.
Webtrends' suit said it determined Swetnick had engaged in misconduct but could not find evidence to support her allegations against her colleagues. Later, the company alleged, Swetnick took medical leave and simultaneously claimed unemployment benefits in the District of Columbia.
In the suit, Webtrends alleged Swetnick threatened legal action against the company over her own harassment claims. The lawsuit claimed that act defamed the business and sought at least $150,000 on behalf of an employee that Swetnick had allegedly made false statements about.
Webtrends still operates in Portland, where its technology helps clients measure and analyze traffic on their websites. The company declined comment on the suit this week.
While Swetnick issued a sworn affidavit this week attesting to the truth of her allegations against Kavanaugh, news organizations have said they could not corroborate any of her claims. A former boyfriend once filed a restraining order against her.

***	***	***

 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  
Ephesians 5:13-17

**************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

September 23

Saints,

No matter what, continue to witness and be witnesses for Christ.  In this age of “fake news,” the cyberverse is full of all kinds of sensationalized religious doctrine and revelations.  I once tried to take on one heresy at a time and defend the Faith, but now they fall on us like a driving rain. Surely, we must do our part to defend the Faith, but it may come down to standing on the most simple, fundamental if profound issues and elements of the Gospel and the Word of Truth, the Scriptures.  Church history says the very elderly surviving Apostle John, came to the point of responding to the sea of troublesome opinions around him in the churches with simply, “Little children, love one another.”  Of course, this did not diminish the revelations of doctrinal truth in his Gospel, his several letters about the details and nature of the spirit of antichrist, and of the true love among the saints, nor of his grand, completing revelation from his Master…the very Book of Revelation.  But, it could also have been an answer to the overwhelming flood sent out by “the accuser of the brethren,” the devil.  We know that he rages because “his time is short,” and he knows he will come to his own end.  Let us stand under the fear of God and the love of Jesus our Lord and Savior who teaches us to love our brethren. God and Lord, keep us in your Salvation!

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour… 1 Peter 5:8
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.  Revelation 12:12
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10

***

The Week — 
(September 17)
Pray for Brett Cavanaugh.  Facing accusations in a “he said, she said” scenario over an alleged issue from his childhood/minority, denied by two of the three parties allegedly involved and all the rest of his character peers from that time; his political adversaries sharpen their teeth and their knives.  Whoever says the world is getting better should look again at these “high level” political assassins.  Our prayer: May God have his way and establish his will in this matter.  “No weapon formed against thee shall prosper,” Isaiah 54:17.  God save!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/brett-kavanaugh-accuser-comes-forward-about-alleged-sexual-assault-1537129767
Brett Kavanaugh Accuser Comes Forward About Alleged Sexual Assault
Public allegation about the Supreme Court nominee could alter the trajectory of his confirmation

***
After Puerto Rico, is Florence now heralding an apocalyptic era (“the beginning of sorrows,” Matthew 24:8) of life-and-culture-and-civilization destroying physical events?  Is the world being thrust physically into a time of new “dark ages”? (Aside: Should we take literally that Armageddon’s armies will need to come, at least in some measure, on legions of horses, due in part to the collapse of technological infrastructures?) (Hold that thought and see next story!)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/16/us/hurricane-florence-path.html?emc=edit_th_180917&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980917
Hurricane Florence: Storm ‘Has Never Been More Dangerous’
WILMINGTON, N.C. — North Carolina confronted a spiraling statewide crisis on Sunday as Tropical Depression Florence slowly ravaged the region, flooding cities, endangering communities from the coastline to the rugged mountains, and requiring well more than 1,000 rescues.
Sunday, it seemed, was when the storm system that had stalked the South for days — first as a hurricane, then as a tropical storm and eventually as a tropical depression — showed its full power with staggering scope. The death toll from the storm rose to at least 16 in North and South Carolina, where roads were treacherous and even the most stately trees were falling.
“It’s horrible,” said Mitch Colvin, the mayor of Fayetteville, N.C., in the eastern part of the state, where the rising Cape Fear River was expected to swamp bridges and cut his city in two in the next few days. “Things are deteriorating,” he said. … …
The perils stretched across North Carolina’s more than 500-mile width. Weary, drenched coastal cities were scenes of daring rescues. Waterways swelled throughout the eastern and central parts of the state, testing dams and menacing towns with floodwaters that had no place to go but up. Inch after inch of rain fell on Charlotte and its suburbs, and communities in North Carolina’s western mountains feared landslides. … …

***
(September 18)
While we, no doubt, deserve terrestrial judgment — global warming and other pollutions — from wallowing in our greedy iniquities — and should be the best stewards of the planet that we can be, it remains utter arrogance to think we can manipulate the cosmos.  God will judge in his time and in his way, and such judgment will be utterly effective.  If the 1889 solar event fried the wires-and-poles telegraph system, how much more will our sophisticated electronic “Information Age” global circuitry melt down when and if God chooses?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/02/02/weather-spacecraft-will-monitor-huge-solar-flares-erupting-sun/
Weather spacecraft will monitor huge solar flares erupting from the Sun
A devastating solar storm which could wipe out communications on Earth and fry power grids is a matter of ‘when not if’ the head of the Met Office’s Space Weather Monitoring centre has warned.
Extreme space weather has already caused widespread disruption, with a geomagnetic storm leaving six million people without power in 1989 while Apollo astronauts narrowly missed being exposed to deadly radiation in 1972 and solar flares in 2003 forced the crew of the International Space Station to take cover.
The largest solar storm ever recorded, The Carrington Event in 1859, knocked out Telegraph systems and even set fire to paper in offices.
To help forecast such devastating phenomena the European Space Agency is launching the Solar Orbiter probe in 2020 to monitor the Sun, and yesterday unveiled the spacecraft at Airbus ahead of a year of testing in Germany. … …

***
Let the Christians pray!  Pray now!  Pray Monday!  Pray during!  God will set up and take down whom He will, but we are called to pray for righteous leaders and judges.  The Gates of Sodom vomit on every side, and such “diversity” is near to ending the nation in pools of moral sewage.  Let us pray to “strengthen the things that remain,” Revelation 3:2.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/politics/kavanaugh-allegations-ford-palo-alto.html?emc=edit_th_180918&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980918
Hearing Set for Monday to Hear Kavanaugh and His Accuser
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under mounting pressure from senators of his own party, will call President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault before the committee on Monday for extraordinary public hearings only weeks before the midterm elections.
In setting the hearing, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, backed down from a committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, planned for this Thursday, and pushed a confirmation once seen as inevitable into limbo.
The hearing with Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist in Northern California, sets up a potentially explosive public showdown that carries unmistakable echoes of the 1991 testimony of Anita Hill, who accused the future Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in an episode that riveted the nation and ushered a slew of women into public office. It will play out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which has energized Democratic women across the United States, in an institution, the Senate, that is more than three-quarters male.
Mr. Trump vigorously defended his nominee on Monday, calling him an “outstanding” judge with an unblemished record, and dismissing as “ridiculous” the prospect that Judge Kavanaugh might withdraw his nomination. … …
***
Hundreds of subsistence miners buried in mudslides by the Philippine Typhoon.  Horrible deaths, swallowed up by mud.  We pray God caused many to call on Him in truth as they perished.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/world/asia/philippines-landslide-typhoon-mangkhut.html?emc=edit_th_180918&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980918
Drawn by Gold, Drowned in Mud: Typhoon Kills Philippine Miners
***

(September 19)
Sparks in Tinder?  Syria mistakenly shoots down Russian surveillance plane.  Israel is momentarily blamed, but President Putin quickly assesses correctly.  How close is the Middle East to utter explosion?  God restrains for the Present.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/world/middleeast/syria-russian-plane.html?emc=edit_th_180919&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980919
Putin Calls Downing of Russian Plane in Syria ‘Tragic’ and Absolves Israel
JERUSALEM — Syrian forces accidentally shot down a Russian military plane after an Israeli airstrike on Syrian territory, Kremlin officials said Tuesday, the worst case of friendly fire for Russia in the Syrian war.
The accident on Monday night briefly caused a crisis in Russia-Israel relations as the Kremlin blamed the Israelis, underscoring the risks of escalation from unintended consequences among the different forces operating in Syria.
All 15 Russian service members aboard were killed in the antiaircraft barrage that downed the plane, which had apparently been misidentified by Syrian gunners as Israeli.
Russia intervened in Syria three years ago to help President Bashar al-Assad prevail in a brutal civil war. The Russians have shown extraordinary tolerance toward Israel’s military, which has carried out more than 200 airstrikes over two years in Syria aimed at Iran-backed Shiite militias that Israel regards as a threat.

Despite anger by the Russian military, fears of a Russia-Israel confrontation were dampened by Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. He blamed “a chain of tragic accidental circumstances,” and not just Israel, for the downing of the plane, an Ilyushin Il-20 surveillance aircraft.
Mr. Putin drew a distinction between the downing of a Russian fighter plane by Turkey in 2015, which he condemned at the time as a “stab in the back delivered by the accomplices of terrorists,” and Monday’s accident, “because an Israeli plane didn’t shoot our plane down. … …
***
#MeToo raging out of control: an example of how Zeitgeist, “the spirit of an age” breaks over humans via propaganda, anecdote, crowd emotion, hysteria overwhelming due process, etc.—

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-politics.html?emc=edit_th_180919&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980919
On Kavanaugh, a Changed America Debates an Explosive Charge 
It was 36 years ago. The accusation: There was a party, alcohol. A 17-year-old boy was drunk and started groping a 15-year-old girl, pinning her down and covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream. Today, she doesn’t remember some of the details. He insists it didn’t happen at all.
It was 36 years ago. The culture: What 15-year-old girl would tell her parents she had been at a party where kids had been drinking, much less that a boy had attacked her?
It was 36 years ago. The country: Ronald Reagan was president. The Supreme Court had only one female associate justice, its first, Sandra Day O’Connor. It was nine years before the Clarence Thomas hearings, where the spectacle of an all-male Senate panel casting doubt upon Anita Hill would provoke the outrage that drove a record number of women to run for — and win — congressional office.
A very different United States is now deep into a debate over how long-ago allegations involving teenagers and alcohol should be regarded and treated in the confirmation process of the accused, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, in his nomination to the Supreme Court.
It’s unclear where the confrontation is headed: The Senate Judiciary Committee has called both Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, to testify before the Senate Monday, but she has not committed to appearing.
Both Democrats and Republicans have to carefully consider how their response affects their strategy just seven weeks before a midterm election where women are crucial voters. Democrats have to worry about older women and those who have raised teenagers, who may be skeptical that an allegation from adolescence should doom a person as an adult, no matter what they think of this pick by President Trump. Republicans have to be mindful of the generational shift that has made the country far more vigilant on matters of sexual misconduct, and of the women demanding that the allegations made by Dr. Blasey, now a research psychologist in Northern California, be taken seriously.
No matter their differing viewpoints, scholars, advocates for women’s rights, politicians and others see enormous consequence in reckoning with adolescent behavior during a high court fight in an unusually combustible election year.
“This is going to come back to bite women, I promise you,” said Kay Hymowitz, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, and the author of “Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys.” “Teenage girls do crazy, stupid things also. Even if they have not attempted a rape, they will have done other stupid things. There’s a lot of confusion about what we expect of kids, boys and girls, when it comes to sex.”
Others argued that while it is reasonable to put the allegations in context — if they are true, he was just a teenager, that argument goes — Judge Kavanaugh is not up for an ordinary job.
“I would be very troubled if someone were about to go to jail for something like this that happened 40 years ago,” said Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge who has written extensively in defense of women’s rights in sexual harassment and sexual assault. Still, she said, “With respect to the Supreme Court you’re dealing with an elite position which is a privilege to be confirmed for. And arguably the standards are much higher.”
Judge Gertner noted that she had raised two teenagers — “teenage boys are nuts,” she said — and she has seen how allegations, even when found to be false, can unfairly tarnish young men. Last year, she and three other Harvard Law School professors urged the Department of Education to reassess Obama-era guidance to colleges on dealing with allegations of sexual assault, arguing they had encouraged colleges to adopt definitions of misconduct that are “seriously overbroad.” … …
		
Case in Point?  The root word for “hysteria” is the ancient Greek “hyster” for “womb” and the same root behind the English word “womb” is “woman” (man but with womb instead).
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/09/18/sen_hirono_on_kavanaugh_men_need_to_shut_up_accuser_needs_to_be_believed_and_i_believe_her.html
Sen. Hirono: Men Need To "Shut Up," Kavanaugh Accuser Needs To Be Believed And I Believe Her
Hard to Believe this is anything but coached stalling by Democrat, Leftist Agenda-Mongers?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/18/politics/ford-letter-fbi/index.html
Kavanaugh accuser wants FBI investigation before testifying

***
X-Files 2018, Episode 3?  (See last blog update).  More misleading answers and mum-responses on the suddenly FBI-closed solar observatory in New Mexico —

https://www.kvia.com/news/new-mexico/sheriff-upset-by-fbi-s-handling-of-observatory-closure-it-s-chicken-/796397199
Sheriff slams FBI's handling of observatory closure: 'It's chicken ... '
Nature of threat still unclear; FBI remains silent
***
(September 20)
Two, not one but TWO, multiple shootings in one day, resulting in deaths on the 19th —
https://search.hshipmenttracker.co/?uc=20180825&ap=appfocus84&source=google_v0-bb9&uid=38437aec-1305-4b8a-9f61-6e1e31c6fe67&i_id=packages_1.2&cid=fphdlodflkdpppmacendjcfaalpdhoom&page=newtab&
Gunman in courthouse shooting that injured 4 was scheduled for assault hearing, authorities say
https://www.scsun-news.com/story/news/2018/09/19/two-los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-shot-while-chasing-suspects/1364969002/
Two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies shot; one suspect dead

***
Global breakdown into left and right, populist versus globalist, tribal ethnicities versus universal diversity, etc. continues to divide and destroy, now in Brazilian politics —

Said the Poet Yeats in 1919 in his poem, The Second Coming, on the end of WW1:
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

…And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/divisive-brazil-election-careens-dangerous-polarization-152332645.html
Divisive Brazil election careens into 'dangerous' polarization

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's presidential campaign, already the most divisive since the end of military rule three decades ago, is growing increasingly polarized each day and raising concerns about the future of the country's democracy.
Less than three weeks before the vote, surveys from the Ibope and Datafolha polling firms show the middle has collapsed, with the electorate rejecting any centrist and gravitating to opposite ends of the political spectrum. … …

***
A nunnery of antichrist doper women in nun habits — a witch by any other name is still a witch. (Northern California, of course?)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/meet-weed-nuns-put-faith-065710360.html
Meet the 'weed nuns' who put faith in the healing powers, and profits, of cannabis
***
Lord God, save and manifest your will in this matter, crucial to us as American Christians.  We know not why you want our prayers, for you have no need of them to accomplish your will, but it is part of your chosen fellowship with us to use us as instruments of prayer for your will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Hear us, we pray, “attend unto our prayer.”  Amen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/us/politics/kavanaugh-accusations-trump-blasey-ford.html?emc=edit_th_180920&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980920
Kavanaugh’s Supporters and His Accuser Are at an Impasse Over Her Testimony

WASHINGTON — The confrontation between Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and his accuser devolved into a polarizing stalemate on Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans advanced competing narratives to convince voters that the other side has been unfair in the Supreme Court confirmation battle.
Christine Blasey Ford, the professor who alleged that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, said a Senate hearing set for Monday to hear her allegation would not be fair and Democrats insisted that an F.B.I. investigation take place first. Backed by President Trump, Senate Republicans rejected any F.B.I. inquiry, and said that Monday was her chance to be heard.
Dr. Blasey’s resistance to appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday seemed to galvanize Republicans and drew wavering Republican senators back into Judge Kavanaugh’s camp. Barring new information or an agreement by Dr. Blasey to testify after all, Judge Kavanaugh may now have enough momentum to be confirmed as early as next week. Republicans set a committee meeting for Wednesday for a possible vote to move the nomination to the floor.
Hanging over the impasse were the midterm elections, now less than seven weeks away. Republicans were determined to confirm Judge Kavanaugh before then, knowing that if Democrats managed to win control of the Senate, it would be exponentially harder to approve any nominees sent by Mr. Trump. Conversely, for Democrats, a delay in voting on Judge Kavanaugh would increase the chances of blocking his confirmation and enhance the influence Democrats would have over who eventually fills the vacant seat. … …
***
A NYTimes editorial writer notices something that astutely biblical observers must also notice:  Secular and Political Conservatism and Biblical practice and morality are not always the same.  Though she may posit somewhat different views, agendas, and moral stands from the Biblical, she still makes some interesting and cogent observations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/opinion/liberalism-religious-right.html?emc=edit_th_180920&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980920
The Liberalism of the Religious Right
by Emily Ekins
Conservatives who attend church have more moderate views than secular conservatives on issues like race, immigration and identity.
President Trump has been a regular speaker at recent Values Voter Summits, and for this year’s event, he will send Vice President Mike Pence to rally the religious right. This will not surprise many people on the left who have questioned the authenticity of social conservatives’ values and their place in the Trump-Pence coalition. They think the religious right has compromised its Christian values in order to attain political power for Republicans.
But new data suggest the left may have a lot more common ground with some of these conservatives than it thinks.  In a Democracy Fund Voter Study Group report, I found that religious conservatives are far more supportive of diversity and immigration than secular conservatives. Religion appears to actually be moderating conservative attitudes, particularly on some of the most polarizing issues of our time: race, immigration and identity.
Churchgoing Trump voters have more favorable feelings toward African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Muslims and immigrants compared with nonreligious Trump voters. This holds up even while accounting for demographic factors like education and race.
Churchgoing Trump voters care far more than nonreligious ones about racial equality (67 percent versus 49 percent) and reducing poverty (42 percent versus 23 percent). These differences are reflected in their actions, too. Mr. Trump’s most religiously observant voters are three times as likely as secular Trump voters to volunteer — and not just with their own church. Sixty-one percent of the president’s most devout base volunteered in the past year compared with 20 percent of conservatives without religious affiliation.
Religious participation also appears to pull Mr. Trump’s supporters away from the administration’s immigration policy. The more frequently Trump voters attend church, the more they support offering citizenship to unauthorized immigrants and making the immigration process easier, and the more opposed they become to the border wall.
In fact, many conservative Christian churches disapprove of the Trump administration’s handling of immigration. The National Association of Evangelicals, representing 45,000 churches, asked President Trump to end family separation at the border because it caused “traumatic effects” on young children. It also urged the administration to “resume a robust U.S. refugee resettlement program.”
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country at over 15 million, did something similar: It passed a resolution asking the Trump administration to consider a pathway to citizenship for asylum seekers and keeping families together at the border because of the “biblical mandate to act compassionately toward those who are in need.”
The Mormon Church issued a news release voicing its concern over the “aggressive and insensitive treatment” of asylum seekers that was “harmful to families” and urged officials to “correct this situation” with “rational compassionate solutions.”
It seems church teachings can curb tribalistic impulses by regularly reminding worshipers that we are all God’s children. This hasn’t extended to sexual minorities as much as progressives may like, but it appears to be making a difference when it comes to race and immigration.
Religious institutions also provide communities and identities that aren’t based upon immutable traits such as race or country of birth. Research suggests that identities that transcend race or nationality may lead people to feel more favorably toward racial and religious minorities.
Social psychology research has also found that conservatives have a stronger desire to belong and be loyal to cohesive groups. Secular conservatives lack church membership to provide that sense of belonging and may succumb to the temptation to find it on the basis of their race or the nation, thereby bolstering white nationalism or the alt-right movement. We found that secular Trump voters are three times as likely as churchgoing Trump voters to say that their white racial identity is “extremely” important to them; a majority of them report feeling like strangers in the country.
These effects aren’t confined to just Protestants or Catholics (who make up 63 percent and 26 percent, respectively, of Mr. Trump’s devout supporters). Frequent participation in religious traditions also appears to bolster more tolerant attitudes and volunteer work among Muslims, Mormons and Buddhists.
But the harmonizing effect of religion may be diminishing. Since the early 1990s, as record numbers of Americans began leaving organized religion, the percentage of white Republicans with no religious affiliation has tripled, according to an analysis of the General Social Survey. Today, only 31 percent of the president’s coalition attends church regularly. Forty-eight percent never or rarely attend services.
Some on the left might applaud such trends. Because of the L.G.B.T. culture wars, many incorrectly assume that if conservative churchgoers are less accepting of sexual minorities, they are also less accepting of racial and religious minorities. This may help explain why a majority (56 percent) of Democrats today have outright negative views of evangelical Christians, as the Views of the Electorate Research Survey found.
Many progressives hope that encouraging conservatives to disengage from religion will make them more tolerant. But if the data serve as any guide, doing so may in fact make it even harder for left and right to meet in a more compassionate middle.
***
X-Files, Episode 4?  Well, here’s the story (or cover story?), but is “the truth still out there”?

https://www.ktsm.com/news/local/el-paso-news/child-pornography-reason-behind-sunspot-observatory-closure-according-to-court-documents/1460386237
Child pornography reason behind Sunspot Observatory closure, according to court documents
A federal search warrant reveals that Sunspot Solar Observatory was shut down as FBI agents conducted computer forensic searches for child pornography.
The source of child pornography was traced to an IP address used at the observatory and a source within the building observed a computer with "not good" images on it, the warrant states.
An investigation by the FBI revealed that a janitor is the main suspect in the search, however he has not been charged with a crime even though his name is on the warrant. … …
***
Quite some years ago now, I posted a blog link that linked to a Beyonce claim that she came under spirits controlling her during her stage work.  In Voodoo, these familiars are called “Loa” if memory serves me right.

https://theblast.com/beyonce-restraining-order-former-drummer-witchcraft-dark-magic/
Beyoncé’s Former Drummer Claims Singer Molested Her with ‘Dark Magic,’ ‘Extreme Witchcraft’
***
(September 21)
Kings of the East seek to solidify their rearguard defenses before they sally forth to Armageddon with their army of 200,000,000 (Revelation 9:16 & 16:12).  Doubtless the strategic plans of the spirit of Antichrist for them are bigger than they can yet conceive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/world/asia/south-china-sea-navy.html?emc=edit_th_180921&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980921
China’s Sea Control Is a Done Deal, ‘Short of War With the U.S.’
NEAR MISCHIEF REEF, South China Sea — As the United States Navy reconnaissance plane banked low near Mischief Reef in the South China Sea early this month, a Chinese warning crackled on the radio.
“U.S. military aircraft,” came the challenge, delivered in English in a harsh staccato. “You have violated our China sovereignty and infringed on our security and our rights. You need to leave immediately and keep far out.”
Aboard the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, flying in what is widely considered to be international airspace, Lt. Dyanna Coughlin scanned a live camera feed showing the dramatic evolution of Mischief Reef.
Five years ago, this was mostly an arc of underwater atoll populated by tropical fish and turtles. Now Mischief Reef, which is off the Philippine coast but controlled by China, has been filled out and turned into a Chinese military base, complete with radar domes, shelters for surface-to-air missiles and a runway long enough for fighter jets. Six other nearby shoals have been similarly transformed by Chinese dredging.
The country’s aggressive territorial claims and island militarization have put neighboring countries and the United States on the defensive, even as President Trump’s administration is stepping up efforts to highlight China’s controversial island-building campaign.
In congressional testimony before assuming his new post as head of the United States Indo-Pacific Command in May, Adm. Philip S. Davidson sounded a stark warning about Beijing’s power play in a sea through which roughly one-third of global maritime trade flows.
“In short, China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States,” Admiral Davidson said, an assessment that caused some consternation in the Pentagon. … …

***
Another Multiple Shooting, “mass shooting of the day,” this time, unusually, by a woman.  May God awaken to the Gospel those surviving and close to this event.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/us/maryland-shooting-aberdeen.html?emc=edit_th_180921&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980921
Employee Kills Three, Then Herself, at Rite Aid Facility in Maryland, Officials Say

A 26-year-old woman opened fire at a Rite Aid distribution center in Aberdeen, Md., on Thursday morning, the authorities said, killing three people and wounding several others in what was the nation’s third shooting at a workplace in less than 24 hours.
The assailant, Snochia Moseley, a temporary employee at the facility, shot herself and died at a hospital, Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler of Harford County, Md., said at a news briefing. Ms. Moseley, whose last known address was in Baltimore County, had reported for work as usual before carrying out the attack with a single weapon, a Glock 9-millimeter handgun.
“We believe the shooting incident began outside and then moved into the front of the building,” Sheriff Gahler said, adding that the investigation was still preliminary.
Two of the victims died at the scene, while another died at a hospital, he said. Three people were wounded and are expected to survive. Sheriff Gahler did not identify the victims.
Rite Aid employs nearly 1,000 people at the distribution center, where products are received from manufacturers and vendors and processed for delivery to stores, according to Susan Henderson, a company spokeswoman. The shooting occurred at the Liberty support facility on the distribution center’s campus.
The authorities spent the hours after the shooting searching and clearing the 210,000-square-foot distribution center, prolonging the investigation, Sheriff Gahler said. … …
***
The glorification of hallucinogenic sorcery (pharma) via Hollywood — Is the movie itself a spell to avoid?  The reviewer seems to think so in the very first line.  Sally Field, Emma Stone, Jonah Hill too, eh?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/arts/television/maniac-netflix-review.html?emc=edit_th_180921&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980921
Review: ‘Maniac’ Is a Hallucinatory, Emotional Dream Machine

“Maniac” is about an experimental psychoactive drug. Also, it sort of is an experimental psychoactive drug.
At your first dose, things go wonky, just a little, around the edges. You’re in a New York City that looks like today’s New York but isn’t. A winged “Statue of Extra Liberty” towers in the harbor. Humans rent themselves out in a turbocharged gig economy, while Muppet-like robots hustle chess games in the park. Tiny wheeled “poop bots” trudge the sidewalks cleaning up dog waste. (The subways — well, the subways are still recognizably lousy.)
On these retro-techno streets (basically, the future as imagined in 1980) we find Owen (Jonah Hill) and Annie (Emma Stone), two strangers who meet as subjects in a dodgy trial for psychiatric medication that promises to give its users’ subconsciouses a deep cleaning by inducing dangerous, therapeutic dreams.
At this point “Maniac,” which appears on Netflix Friday, ups the dosage and becomes something unstable, exhilarating and one-of-a-kind, a sci-fi pharmacological dystopian family-therapy dramedy.
Owen, the disdained younger son of a plutocrat family (they made their fortune in poop bots), is scraping by on temp jobs and haunted by hallucinations. The street-savvy Annie has gotten hooked on illicit samples from the drug trial that allow her to re-experience a defining trauma. He joins the experiment to earn cash; she joins to get a fix.
The first episode mostly follows Owen’s story, the weaker of the two. His humiliation by his family of entitled bros (with Gabriel Byrne as the pushy paterfamilias) plays like “Succession” with extra psychosis. Mr. Hill is so subdued and mumble-mouthed he seems to be performing under local anesthesia.
In Episode 2, Annie crashes the narrative, driven by guilt over the disintegration of her family and a generalized rage at the world. Ms. Stone plays her like she’s packed with gunpowder. She blackmails her way into the trial, telling her unfortunate target that she’s not crazy, “I’m just goal-oriented.” In the lab, she and Owen are assigned honeycomb-like pods and set to the job of dreaming.
The experiment is itself a family drama. Dr. James Mantleray (a wonderfully pompous Justin Theroux, in a Warhol moptop) has a long-simmering resentment of his mother, Greta (Sally Field), a best-selling pop-psych author, and he’s channeled his issues into his anthropomorphized computer. The machine — revealingly named GRTA — inevitably glitches, threatening both science and subjects: My Mother, the HAL 9000. … …
***
Complete, near-omniscient AI management of the world’s largest human population at hand.  Life as prison — for everyone —

https://www.sciencealert.com/china-s-dystopian-social-credit-system-science-fiction-black-mirror-mass-surveillance-digital-dictatorship
China's Chilling 'Social Credit System' Is Straight Out of Dystopian Sci-Fi, And It's Already Switched On
Like Black Mirror. Totally like Black Mirror.
It's been in the pipeline for years: a sprawling, technological mass surveillance network the likes of which the world has never seen. And it's already been switched on.
China's  “Social Credit System” – which is expected to be fully operational by 2020 – doesn't just monitor the nation's almost 1.4 billion citizens. It's also designed to control and coerce them, in a gigantic social engineering experiment that some have called the “gamification of trust.” 

That's because the massive project, which has been slowly coming together for over a decade, is about assigning an individual trust score to each and every citizen, and to businesses too.
According to China's Communist Party, the system will "allow the trustworthy to roam freely under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step".
To pull this off, the unprecedented scheme will harness the immense reach of China's technological infrastructure: some 200 million CCTV cameras, according to a report by Australia's Foreign Correspondent.
The idea is these ever-watchful eyes will be hooked up to facial recognition systems, and cross-checked with financial, medical records, and legal records – with the whole apparatus regulated and interpreted by advanced, big-data-crunching AI networks.
The sweeping dystopia of it all is uncannily reminiscent of the TV show Black Mirror – in particular the eerily prescient episode “Nosedive" – but while several outlets have pointed the similarities out, China's ultimate goal goes even further.
"This is potentially a totally new way for the government to manage the economy and society," economist Martin Chorzempa from the Peterson Institute for International Economics told The New York Times in July. … …
***
(September 22)

https://www.fastcompany.com/90240130/facebooks-new-home-gadget-might-have-a-creepy-camera-as-its-main-feature
Facebook’s new home gadget might have a creep camera as its main feature
***
(September 23)
Persia Entering Crucible?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/militants-attack-iran-army-parade-killing-civilians-state-070639965.html
Iran vows 'crushing response' after gunmen kill 29 at army parade
Tehran (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing" response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday at a military parade near the Iraqi border.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States.
A local journalist who witnessed the attack said shots rang out for 10 to 15 minutes and that at least one of the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, wore the uniform of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. … …
***
“Grain of Salt” or whiff of sulfur?  (Said Lincoln—paraphrase—“You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-pope-francis-arrives-lithuanian-capital-094720958.html
The Latest: Pope quips "I am the devil" next to John Paul
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to the Baltic countries (all times local):
6:35 p.m.
Pope Francis has acknowledged that his reputation pales a bit compared to St. John Paul II — at least as far as Poles are concerned.
Greeting journalists Saturday en route to Lithuania, Francis was given a book about the former pope by Polish photographer Grzegorz Galazka. Receiving the large book with a beaming John Paul on the cover, Francis quipped: "(Pope John Paul II) was a saint, I am the devil."
Laughing, Galazka immediately corrected him: "No, you are both saints! You are both saints!"
Francis' quip appeared to acknowledge that he has his detractors, particularly among conservative Catholics who long for the more doctrinaire papacies of John Paul and Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.
The criticism of Francis by conservatives has grown more vocal recently amid the church's sex abuse scandals and the distress over his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion. … …
***
“Deep State” being defined as to participants?  Presidential conundrums to survive?  “Pray for those in authority that…we may lead quiet, peaceable lives in all godliness” says Paul.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/407908-donald-trumps-rosenstein-dilemma
Donald Trump’s Rosenstein dilemma
Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.
That is the dilemma President Donald Trump faces as he decides whether to fire Rod Rosenstein following revelations that the deputy attorney general allegedly talked about taping the president and rounding up Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment. 
There were several people present at this meeting in the aftermath of the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Despite the fact that Rosenstein wrote the key memo trashing Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, he reportedly was angry and uncertain after the president actually did it, using his memo as a justification. 
The prime source for this information appears to be none other than fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe , who faces investigation by a grand jury and whose memos are being declassified. McCabe appears to be even angrier at the Department of Justice (DOJ) brass who fired and humiliated him just for leaking and lying when he may have far worse on his comrades.
This is the deep state unraveling.
People bristle when I sometimes adopt and use that term: “deep state.” But as an outside observer, watching the unmasking of the actions of one official after another at the FBI, CIA and DOJ, I have come to accept that an unelected group of well-educated, experienced individuals running these departments became inebriated with their own power during the last election campaign and apparently came to believe they were on a mission to stop, defeat or remove President Trump and his associates for crimes they would find or, if necessary, manufacture.
Perhaps Rosenstein was joking when he referenced the 25th Amendment, as another meeting participant reports. But Rosenstein’s statement in response to the news accounts carefully avoids denying having discussed wiring himself or others in some effort to entrap Trump. This cabal is meeting and planning, post-Comey’s firing, despite the fact that Rosenstein himself in his memo to President Trump said Comey was “wrong” and the FBI could not regain lost public trust without a new director who understood his errors. 
It seems Rosenstein also may have believed we needed a new president. Just days into his expanded role and after these conversations, he appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel with a still-secret charter to investigate the Trump campaign and administration; the precipitating act was the very firing he recommended. … …

***	***	***

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1 Timothy 2: 1, 2

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

September 16

Saints,

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” 1 John 2:15.  This is one of those frightening, “hard sayings” of Jesus and his apostles.  The world has some charms and some pleasures that are, in and of themselves, not sins.  But making idols of them, “must haves,” etc. is not the narrow way of the Lord, who also said, “ If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  But it’s not so bad, not at all harsh, if we remember and consider “what we get out of it”: everlasting life in perfection in the ever new but also ageless and eternal Presence of God and all his Sinless New Creation; not a bad deal!  Let us press on.

***

The Week — (The week of Florence?)

(September 10)
Brits about to be criminalized for just getting cranky in public or online?  “Pre-Crime” profiling?
https://www.prisonplanet.com/uk-police-tell-citizens-to-report-offensive-comments-even-if-theyre-not-hate-crimes.html
UK: Police Tell Citizens to Report “Offensive” Comments Even if They’re Not “Hate Crimes”
Meanwhile, apparently checking to see if “sheepish lemmings” are ready to queue for the abattoir?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6151783/Fury-beheading-art-exhibition-public-pretend-murdered-Jihadi-John.html
Fury over 'beheading' art exhibition where the public pretend to be murdered by Jihadi John
	•	The work featured at the Gogbot art festival in the east Dutch city of Enschede
	•	Visitors can pose as the victim of a beheading using the controversial artwork 
	•	Politicians from several parties called for it to be removed from the festival 

An art installation where visitors are encouraged to have a photo taken next to an Islamic State terrorist waiting to behead them has been blasted by politicians.
The artwork, which is part of an exhibition at the Gogbot art and music festival in the Eastern Dutch city of Enschede, features a full-size picture of ISIS terrorist Jihadi John dressed entirely in black printed on a wooden board.
Next to the ISIS executioner sits his victim dressed in an orange jumpsuit down on his knees shortly before being beheaded.
The face of the victim is however cut out of the board, which allows visitors to the art exhibition to pose for a picture as an ISIS victim.
The controversial artwork called 'phantom pain' was created by 22-year-old Anne Bothmer, who argued that 'lorries driving into crowds, bombings and shootings' caused a 'massive stream of irrational reactions.'
Bothmer wrote: 'As a spectator of these attacks we do not want to experience it, but we want to be part of it. The overarching tone of the messages within the aftermath amplifies a feeling of collective victimisation by European citizens.
'However, in comparison there were only a few who were really present at the attacks and the rest of Europe only perceived them through cinematic and photographic imagery. … …

***
(September 11, a new Day of Infamy —after FDR’s quote on Pearl Harbor—now, 17 years already, The World Trade Center Attack)

Food for thought:  Could this be a Western Civilization example of Hinduism’s reincarnation?  Christian theologians refute reincarnation as not a truth of God’s Creation of Man who is made as a personal, valuable and unique individual, and theologians suggest instead that such may be cases of an ancient,  familiar spirit taking up residence in a new person after, even long after, the first or former ones have passed away?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/10/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerbergs-love-for-augustus-may-give-insight.html
Mark Zuckerberg's obsession with an ancient Roman emperor offers insight into how he runs Facebook
	•	The Facebook CEO's idealization of the ancient Roman emperor, who he says made difficult choices to achieve the greater good, may explain some of his decisions.
	•	The company pursued growth aggressively, including expanding into foreign nations and giving access to outside developers without putting checks and balances in place.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s love for ancient Roman emperor Augustus Caesar offers some insights into how he views being a leader.
"You have all these good and bad and complex figures," Zuckerberg said during an interview with The New Yorker.  "I think Augustus is one of the most fascinating. Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace."
Like Zuckerberg, Augustus assumed power of his empire at a young age. To attain world peace, Augustus had to make choices "that didn't come for free, and he had to do certain things," Zuckerberg added. But in the end, the Facebook executive believes the emperor was able to achieve a significant period of peace, something that "feels unattainable."
The profile notes that Augustus eliminated political opponents and may have arranged the execution of his grandson.
Zuckerberg's interest in ancient Rome began in high school and has continued throughout his life, he said. In addition to naming his second daughter August, he spent his 2012 honeymoon in Rome.
"My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her, and Augustus," he said. "All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus."
The Augustus mindset could be one reason why Zuckerberg reportedly led his company to pursue growth at all costs, and used to end some meetings by half-jokingly shouting "Domination!," the profile says. … …

***
(September 12)
Wednesday morning thoughts and prayers:  Is the Southeast Coast, near to the founding centers of American Civilization, about to be struck a blow similar to Puerto Rico, a far-off in the Atlantic, island culture?  Will this Florence hang over the region utterly destroying infrastructure — the electrical grid, housing, commercial buildings, etc. with flood and devastation?

“Forewarned is forearmed,” and so the President, still insisting there was a good FEMA response for Puerto Rico, now has FEMA and massed supplies on hand beforehand.  Join me in my prayers that all human life will be spared, even if Judgment is at hand for the sake of awakening people to the times of the End of the Age.  We shall soon also be able to add “watching” to our prayers; “Here it comes!”  May God also hide the obedient Christians from all harm and direct them to all safety.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Hurricane-Storm-Surge-Warnings-Carolinas-Florence-May-Stall-Near-Coast
Hurricane, Storm Surge Warnings Up for Carolinas; Florence May Stall Near Coast
Hurricane and storm surge warnings were issued Tuesday afternoon ahead of Hurricane Florence, which is increasingly likely to deliver one of the most destructive and prolonged disasters ever seen in the Carolinas.  As of 8 pm EDT Tuesday, a hurricane warning was in effect from South Santee River, South Carolina, to Duck, North Carolina, including the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. A storm surge warning covered the same area, as well as the low-lying Neuse and Pamlico Rivers just inland. Hurricane and storm surge watches extended southward to Edisto Beach, SC, and north to the Virginia-NC border. A tropical storm watch covers the southeast Virginia coast up to Cape Charles Light and Chesapeake Bay south of New Point Comfort.
Florence was again on the upswing in intensity late Tuesday after its strength was briefly dented Monday night by an eyewall replacement cycle, as explained by Dr. Jeff Masters in our previous post. A new, larger eye (about 30 miles across) is now in place, and that will allow the hurricane’s wind field to expand as well.  Satellite images on Tuesday night showed that Florence was still adjusting to its new eye, and had an asymmetric shape with a relatively thin area of heavy thunderstorms on the southwest side. Florence’s top sustained winds were raised to 140 mph by the National Hurricane Center at 5 pm Tuesday. Sustained hurricane-force winds now extend up to 60 miles out from Florence’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend out 175 miles. These numbers may grow even larger as Florence matures and expands. At its current size, Florence rates as an average-sized hurricane. … …
***
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/09/11/man-assaults-republican-congressional-candidate-switchblade-castro-valley/
Castro Valley Man Accused Of Switchblade Assault On GOP Congressional Candidate

CASTRO VALLEY (CBS SF) – A man was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and other charges after allegedly attempting to stab a Republican congressional candidate with a switchblade over the weekend at in Castro Valley, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
On Sunday, September 9, at approximately 3:45 p.m., deputies working at the Castro Valley Fall Festival were alerted to a possible knife attack at one of the vendor booths.

Deputies arrived at the booth and made contact with the victim, Republican candidate Rudy Peters, who is running against incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) for the 15th congressional district seat
The Castro Valley News first reported on the attack.
According to witnesses, 35-year-old Castro Valley resident Farzad Fazeli approached Peters at his booth in an aggressive manner and made disparaging, profanity-laced remarks about the Republican party and President Donald Trump.

During the incident, Fazeli allegedly pulled out a switchblade knife and attempted to stab Peters. The knife malfunctioned and the candidate became involved in a physical struggle with Fazeli, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly.
The suspect then fled the scene, but was detained a short time later by deputies and was found in possession of a switchblade knife, Kelly said.
Fazeli was arrested for felony assault, criminal threats, brandishing a weapon and possession of a switchblade knife and booked into Santa Rita Jail. … …

Is the Left inciting violence? Steve Scalise, Republican House Majority Whip, still recovering from the congressional baseball game mass-shooting attempt mid-2017, thinks so.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/09/07/steve-scalise-democrats-inciting-violence/
SCALISE WARNS: ‘SOME ON THE LEFT’ ARE ‘INCITING’ VIOLENCE

The political left needs to do a better job of policing its members who are “inciting” violence, according to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who narrowly survived a politically-motivated mass assassination attempt in July 2017.
Noting recent instances of violence against Republicans, Scalise said that “some on the left are inciting this violence and frankly they should be called out on it.” He added that some Democrats are “almost encouraging” political violence.
The Louisiana Republican made the comments on an episode of Republican Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy’s podcast, Plaidcast, which aired on Friday.“You’ve got some people on the Left, that just want this idea of resist and ignore the fact that [Trump] is president, they want to interrupt the ability of congress to do its job and of course you’ve got death threats and literal attacks on lives and frankly I want to see the Left stand up to this,” Scalise said. 
Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters sparked controversy in June when she encouraged liberal mobs to harass members of President Donald Trump’s administration at restaurants, gas stations and even at home.
“Already you have members of your cabinet that are being booed out of restaurants,” We have protesters taking up at their house who are saying, ‘No peace, no sleep. No peace, no sleep,'” Waters said, pledging to “win this battle.”
“If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd,” the congresswoman added. “And you push back on them. Tell them they’re not welcome any more, anywhere!”

***
Will the women’s panel show, “The Talk,” turn, like a pack of hungry wolves, on “wounded” co-hostess Julie Chen, wife of disgraced CBS’ Moonves?  Should we expect any less from the ways of the world?  (God save!) (Far worse yet is when supposed Christians do the same thing to their wounded.)
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/09/10/julie-chen-moonves-resignation/
Julie Chen And ‘The Talk’ Co-Hosts React To Moonves Resignation
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Longtime CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves resigned Sunday night, hours after a new article came out detailing new sexual misconduct and assault allegations against him.
On Monday, his wife and host of “The Talk,” Julie Chen, was absent from the show’s season premiere, CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported.
“I’ve never been nervous in my life, but I’m kind of very nervous right now,” Sharon Osbourne said.
Season 9 of “The Talk” kicked off without the co-host and moderator, who released a statement saying, “I am taking a few days off from the talk to be with my family. I will be back soon and will see you Thursday night on ‘Big Brother.'”
The show’s other co-hosts were clearly uncomfortable, but said they had to talk about the issue.
“Just because this hits close to home it doesn’t change this story. All women’s stories matter,” Sara Gilbert explained.
“He’s not been convicted of any crime, but, obviously, the man has a problem,” Osbourne added.
“Today we say enough is enough,” Sheryl Underwood said. … …
***

A common pro-sodomite propaganda answer to such statistics is to blame a repressive, unaccepting society, but the Scriptures say, “The wages of sin is death,” yet Paul goes on to add, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  May God send his evangel among these saddened, entranced boys (and girls) and save from among them. 
https://www.advocate.com/youth/2018/9/11/study-more-half-trans-male-teens-attempt-suicide
Study: More Than Half of Trans Male Teens Attempt Suicide
The rate of suicide attempts is alarmingly high for trans girls and nonbinary teens as well, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows an alarmingly high rate of suicide attempts among transgender teens, particularly trans boys.
Nearly 14 percent of all adolescents in the study, “Transgender Adolescent Suicide Behavior,” based on data from “Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors” survey from the Search Institute, reported they had attempted suicide. But 51 percent of transgender males reported at least one attempt, the highest percentage of any gender identity group. The second highest was among nonbinary teens, nearly 42 percent. … …
***
(Wednesday afternoon news)
Wow! Instant Media Guillotine!  I admit I have never stopped before to notice this guy in the credits.  As “a man on the street,” I can barely care enough to eventually remembering a few of the names of the ever-changing list of anchors, but the sheer instancy of this announcement floors me!  You would think they would at least want to get some slanderous news cycles out of it!  What is going on with this wild rolling of heads down the hill?  Is the spirit of antichrist tossing all down with a machiavellian tactic so that it may set up a whole new “news corp”?  And what?  The guy yelled at a co-worker who happened to be a woman.  These are high pressure news rooms, eh?  Nothing new.  Has the whole world gone “snowflake”?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/60-minutes-chief-jeff-fager-steps-down-1132722
'60 Minutes' Chief Jeff Fager Steps Down
The exec had been at CBS News for 36 years and has been a leading figure at the news division for decades.
The tenure of Jeff Fager as the executive producer of60 Minutes is over. 
"Jeff Fager is leaving the company effective immediately," CBS News president David Rhodes said Wednesday in a statement. "Bill Owens will manage the 60 Minutes team as Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews and I begin the search for a new executive producer of the program. 60 Minutes is the most significant news broadcast on television."
Added Rhodes: "We are fortunate to have incredibly talented journalists in place whom we know will continue to deliver our defining investigative work. This action today is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently. However, he violated company policy and it is our commitment to uphold those policies at every level. Joe Ianniello is in full support of this decision and the transition to come."
A CBS News spokesperson declined to identify the company policy Fager violated, but Fager shed light on it in a statement of his own: “The company’s decision had nothing to do with the false allegations printed in The New Yorker. Instead, they terminated my contract early because I sent a text message to one of our own CBS reporters demanding that she be fair in covering the story. My language was harsh and, despite the fact that journalists receive harsh demands for fairness all the time, CBS did not like it. One such note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it did.”
***
(September 13)
Has a Washington State College, Evergreen, committed academic suicide over hyper-Political-Correctness diversity rage?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/12/evergreen-state-sees-catastrophic-drop-in-enrollment-after-social-justice-meltdown.html
		
Evergreen State sees 'catastrophic' drop in enrollment after social justice meltdown
Evergreen State College enrollment plummeted after fallout from the controversial “Day of Absence” in May 2017 when all white people were asked to leave the campus.
The publicly funded college – committed to social justice – became the poster child of a campus overrun by hyper-political correctness when students shut down the campus and shouted down then-evolutionary biology professor Bret Weinstein (ed. note —No stated connection to Harvey Weinstein) for merely questioning the event kicking white people off campus.
Weinstein, who describes himself as “deeply progressive,” ultimately lost his job and was labeled a “racist” and “white supremacist.”
Although just estimates, a representative from Evergreen said they expect around 350 freshman this fall, with a total of 3,000-3,100 total enrollment, both of which “do represent significant decreases as compared to before the 2017 unrest.” … …

***
X-Files episode?

https://www.cnet.com/news/mysterious-observatory-evacuation-stirs-alien-conspiracy-theories/
Mysterious observatory evacuation stirs alien conspiracy theories
The FBI showed up and evacuated the remote Sunspot solar observatory in southern New Mexico. Almost a week later, no one knows why.
Reports that a Blackhawk helicopter and federal agents swooped in and inexplicably evacuated a remote part of New Mexico, including a prominent solar observatory, has some corners of the internet predictably atwitter about a possible alien coverup. 
FBI agents showed up at the Sunspot solar observatory in tiny Sunspot, New Mexico, on Friday and shut down the facility, evacuating the local area, including the Sunspot post office. 
"There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a bunch of people around antennas and work crews on towers, but nobody would tell us anything," Otero County Sheriff Benny House told the Alamogordo Daily News. "I don't know why the FBI would get involved so quick and not tell us anything."
Five days later, the observatory’s website confirms the entire facility is closed to both staff and the public until further notice. … …
***
Pre-Florence wisdom by Governor of Georgia — “join me in praying…”
https://apnews.com/58781157df70417ca4168b48bdc9e3c2
Storm’s uncertain track sows fear; 10 million in crosshairs
(excerpt):Reacting to the possibility of a more southerly track, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared an emergency but did not immediately order any evacuations.
“I ask all Georgians to join me in praying for the safety of our people and all those in the path of Hurricane Florence,” Deal said. (emphasis added)
***
Academic Anti-Semitism Challenge Renewed —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/us/politics/rutgers-jewish-education-civil-rights.html?emc=edit_na_20180911&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998ing-news&ref=cta
Education Dept. Reopens Rutgers Case Charging Discrimination Against Jewish Students

The new head of civil rights at the Education Department has reopened a seven-year-old case brought by a Zionist group against Rutgers University, saying the Obama administration, in closing the case, ignored evidence that suggested the school allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students.
The move by Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights and a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes, signaled a significant policy shift on civil rights enforcement — and injected federal authority in the contentious fights over Israel that have divided campuses across the country. It also put the weight of the federal government behind a definition of anti-Semitism that targets opponents of Zionism, and it explicitly defines Judaism as not only a religion but also an ethnic origin.
And it comes after the Trump administration moved the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, moved to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority and announced the closing of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington.  In a letter to the Zionist Organization of America, obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Marcus said he would vacate a 2014 decision by the Obama administration and re-examine the conservative Jewish group’s cause not as a case of religious freedom but as possible discrimination against an ethnic group.
In so doing, the Education Department embraced Judaism as an ethnicity and adopted a hotly contested definition of anti-Semitism that included “denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination” by, for example, “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “applying double standards by requiring of” Israel “a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
In effect, Arab-American activists say, the government is declaring the Palestinian cause anti-Semitic.
Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said that although the Office for Civil Rights does not have jurisdiction over religious discrimination, the office “aggressively enforces” civil rights law, “which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “has made clear that O.C.R. will look at the specific facts of each case and make determinations accordingly,” Ms. Hill said. “The facts in this case, many of which were disregarded by the previous administration, are troubling.”
A spokeswoman for Rutgers said the university had not received official notification from the Education Department yet, but “as always, we would certainly cooperate with the Department of Education should they decide to review the decision.” The letter is dated Aug. 27 but received no public notice. … …

***
(September 14)
New Mexico X-Files, Episode 2, The Plot Thickens?

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article218345090.html
FBI mum about sudden closing of solar observatory. Conspiracy theories fill the silence
Mystery continues to surround the sudden shutdown last week of the national Sunspot Solar Observatory in New Mexico, which remained closed Thursday with little explanation offered.
The silence has given rise to guessing games and conspiracy theories bouncing around on social media about what happened at the facility in the Sacramento Mountains, especially given reports that the FBI was involved.
The observatory, near Alamagordo, was evacuated last Thursday, reported the Albuquerque Journal and other local media outlets. … …
***
Friday evening:  No sooner had Thursday’s news of multiple home explosions in Boston suburbs been announced, then I, as a former residential constructionist, said to myself, “This is obviously a problem of suddenly increased gas-line pressures from the utility’s end, overpowering gas safety systems in the exploding homes.  By tonight, experts agree on this likely scenario.  But, here’s another thought: Could this sudden pressure increase be the result of a cyber hack attack?  Let’s see if that thought is introduced in the next news cycle.  What if an enemy power or terrorist group is starting actual domestic warfare against US citizens at peace in their homes?
***
(September 15) (Note on this morning of the 15th.  Some kind of automatic browser update has occurred overnight so that this link below is no longer a live link but must now be copied and pasted to browser address line to load.  I will be looking for a solution to this.)
Media Posing “in high wind” for the Audience in Florence Report While Two Men Walk By Casually?!  (But we give thanks to God that so few lives have been taken.  One is too many, but we can hope the few were calling on the mercy of God when they departed.)

https://mashable.com/article/weatherman-dramatically-braces-for-storm/#zznilNOa9Pqz
Weatherman dramatically braces for Hurricane Florence while 2 guys casually stroll by

***
(September 16)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, another huge, “climate change storm,” a typhoon, mauls the Philippines —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/15/world/asia/typhoon-mangkhut-philippines-death-toll.html?emc=edit_th_180916&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980916
Typhoon Mangkhut Wreaks Havoc in Philippines, Leaving at Least 25 Dead
CLAVERIA, Philippines — Typhoon Mangkhut, which meteorologists called the most powerful storm in the world this year, swept through the northern end of the Philippine island of Luzon, leaving at least 25 people dead and wreaking havoc. It uprooted trees, ripped off roofs, set off landslides and flooded farms and roads.
Yet amid the suffering, there was also relief that the situation was not much worse. The initial casualty toll was far lower than officials had feared in the days before the storm made landfall early Saturday on the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.
But it could be days or weeks before the storm’s true human toll is known. It will also take time to assess how much damage was done to the country’s prime agricultural region and to the economy. Damage to farms could be extensive — and costly for the nation. The region is the country’s largest food producer, and the destruction of crops could lead to food shortages, higher costs and inflation. … …

Sunday Morning Update on Florence —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/15/us/hurricane-florence-path.html?emc=edit_th_180916&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980916
Hurricane Florence Updates: 12 Dead, Power Failures and Catastrophic Flooding
CONWAY, S.C. — Florence, the powerful storm that has already left at least 12 people dead and about a million without power on the East Coast, continued to move inland at an ominously sluggish pace Saturday, fat with rain and threatening to deliver hardship and devastation far beyond the wind-battered coasts. … …
***
Food for Thought, as The Beast Takes Over? “As it has been, so it shall be.” An NYT editorial.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/sunday-review/politics-disruption-media-technology.html?emc=edit_th_180916&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980916
The Hacking of America
Political and technological disruption have fed off each other since the nation’s founding. Now they are dangerously out of whack.
closing excerpt:  The machine is no longer precisely constructed, its every action no longer measured. The machine is fix upon fix, hack after hack, its safety mechanisms sawed off. It has no brake, no fail-safe, no checks, no balances. It clatters. It thunders. It crushes the Constitution in its gears. The smell of smoke wafts out of the engine room. The machine is on fire.

***	***	***

“…If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
(1 John 2:15)

****************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

September 9

Saints,

“Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” What a lovely and simple instruction from Paul to the Colossians (and to us) in 4.2.  I pray for the people and events of the week in these links.  Each one who reads and is also so moved, joins with “the two or three who gather in my name” and of whom the Lord assures us his Presence is with us when we do.  Very small and unknown saints, by the world’s standards, work mighty things by the ear of God.  We often cannot know how fully our prayers may effect and alter world events and cause the sparing of the world for a little longer and more salvations.  But God having said, “pray,” also says “watch” should accompany it, and if we pay this attention, we can see God working with us in very big things…for He will answer our obedience by allowing us to see things and participate as witnesses and intercessors.  And He will show us more and more as we obey these directives…These things are great parts of our working together with Him, and the fellowship of them with Him is mighty fellowship indeed!

The Week —

(September 3)
Here in “progressive Vermont,” I have already seen one small town library join the fray of “Drag Queen Story Hours” with a large poster street side.  Says the LORD, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 22:5.  Is this not conning the next generation, while they are still little children, with “mind jelly” (attempting to destroy their moral center)?  Old Testament ritual and practice are put aside in some stated and specific matters by the New Testament, as with Peter’s vision of the cleansing of Gentile non-kosher foods and even certain extended ramifications of the Vision, and the end of the Temple rituals and sacrifices with its destruction in 70 A.D. as Jesus prophesied, but the Moral Law is Eternal. It is still sin to murder and commit adultery, to blaspheme, to give false testimony, etc.  It is still sin, even “abomination,” to dishonor the God-ordained respect of Gender Identity and God-ordained sexual roles and purposes.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/drag-queen-story-hour-sparks-protests-conservative-towns-130205923.html
Drag Queen Story Hour sparks protests in conservative towns
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Once upon a time, in 2015, a writer in San Francisco named Michelle Tea got the idea for "Drag Queen Story Hour": men in full drag reading children's books to kids and parents in programs aimed at providing "positive and unabashedly queer role models."
Since then, Drag Queen Story Hours have been held at libraries or book stores in big cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and costume-loving New Orleans — where over-the-top hair, makeup and gowns and stories about gender fluidity aren't exactly new.
In some smaller communities, however, the programs have sparked protests from conservative and religious groups. … …

***
(September 4)
“Many shall be offended,” Jesus in Mt. 24:10; Paul, “the offence of the cross,” in Gal. 5:11.  When Truth is an offence, the Flesh is ascendant.

https://apnews.com/2a382030f1964300ae27d05d35127903
AP Exclusive: Franklin’s family says eulogy was offensive
NEW YORK (AP) — The late Aretha Franklin’s family said Monday that it found an Atlanta pastor’s eulogy delivered at the Queen of Soul’s funeral last week to be offensive and distasteful.
The eulogist, the Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., was criticized for a political address that described children being in a home without a father as “abortion after birth” and said black lives do not matter unless blacks stop killing each other. Franklin’s funeral was on Friday.
“He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogize her,” said Vaughn Franklin, the late singer’s nephew, who said he was delivering a statement for the family.
Franklin said that his aunt never asked Williams to eulogize her, since she didn’t talk about plans for her own funeral. The family selected Williams because he has spoken at other family memorials in the past, most prominently at the funeral for Franklin’s father, minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, 34 years ago.
Williams has not backed down from anything he said at the funeral, and said he respects the family’s opinion. “I understand it,” he said. “I regret it. But I’m sorry they feel that way.”
Besides a social media uproar, Williams heard resistance at the funeral itself. Singer Stevie Wonder yelled out “black lives matter” after the pastor said, “No, black lives do not matter” during his eulogy.
Williams had minimized the Black Lives Matter movement because of black-on-black crime. “Black lives must not matter until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves.”
He also said “there are not fathers in the home no more” and said that a black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. Some people suggested that was disrespectful of Aretha Franklin, a single mother of four boys.
His eulogy “caught the entire family off guard,” Vaughn Franklin said. The family had not discussed what Williams would say in advance, he said.
“It has been very, very distasteful,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate because everyone else who participated in the ceremony was very respectful.
***
A sad day for history among mankind, but God has at best a passing interest for artifacts. Though important for our collective knowledge, it is easy to turn them into the worship of humanism; rather, “The only thing man learns from history is that man learns nothing from history.”

https://apnews.com/7810839883784c838189beeec7b377b9/Brazilians-see-metaphor-for-their-struggles-in-museum-fire
Brazilians see metaphor for their struggles in museum fire
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Firefighters dug through the burned-out hulk of Brazil’s National Museum on Monday, a day after flames gutted the building, as the country mourned the irreplaceable treasures lost and pointed fingers over who was to blame.
The museum held Latin America’s largest collection of historical artifacts, and the damage was feared to be catastrophic. One official told a Brazilian news outlet that as much as 90 percent may have been destroyed. Some parts of the collection were stored at other sites. … …
***
Big Brother Working Harder —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/opinion/australia-encryptian-surveillance-bill.html
Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
A new bill will help its intelligence agencies circumvent encryption. And what starts Down Under 

SYDNEY, Australia — A state’s capacity to spy on its citizens has grown exponentially in recent years as new technology has meant more aspects of our lives can be observed, recorded and analyzed than ever before. At the same time, much to the frustration of intelligence agencies around the world, so has the ability to keep digital information secret, thanks to encryption.
That’s why the main intelligence agencies of the Anglophone world are now hoping that Australia will lead the charge in developing ways to get decrypt information at will, and to tap into data that was previously kept secret. A proposed law, the draft of which was released last month by the cybersecurity minister, is an aggressive step in that direction.
We should all be worried, because it’s not just criminals or terrorists who use encryption, but every one of us. We use encryption to buy things online, manage our finances, and communicate personally and professionally. Hospitals, transportation systems and government agencies use encrypted data. Creating tools to weaken encrypted systems for one purpose weakens it for all purposes. If Australia succeeds in doing so, it could be your bank account or your medical records that are compromised in the end.
This particular bill has been more than a year in the making. At the June 2017 meeting in Ottawa of the Five Eyes — the intelligence alliance made up of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — Australia made a point of the need for states to find ways to overcome encryption. A joint communique that came out of the meeting noted that encryption can “severely undermine public safety efforts” and committed Five Eyes members to working with technology companies to “explore shared solutions.”

The Australian government set about translating this objective into law. The release of the bill, which came just before the latest meeting of the Five Eyes in Australia last month, which confirmed the strategy. No doubt Australia’s intelligence and law enforcement establishment were thrilled with this proposal.
Australia, which has no bill of rights, is a logical place to test new strategies for collecting intelligence that can later be adopted elsewhere. Among other things, the proposed law would create a process for “designated communications providers” — defined so expansively that it covers any business hosting a website — to assist intelligence and law enforcement agencies to do almost anything to give them access to encrypted communications. For example, providers may have to build tools, install software or keep agencies up-to-date with developments. In essence, state agencies will be able to circumvent encryption, either with the cooperation of tech companies or by compulsion.

The government has been quick to claim that this is not a back door, and the bill prohibits requests to companies to create “systemic” weaknesses. But this prohibition is ambiguous, and the reporting and accountability safeguards are minimal.
The truth is that there is simply no way to create tools to undermine encryption without jeopardizing digital security and eroding individual rights and freedoms. Hackers with bad intentions will do their utmost to take advantage of any such tools that companies are forced to provide the government.
There are good reasons to be deeply wary of granting powers to state agencies to build and hoard tools that weaken technological infrastructure. Last year, the WannaCry ransomeware threw Britain’s National Health Service into chaos. The attack exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft software. According to Microsoft, the United States National Security Agency had discovered the vulnerability well before the ransomware was released, but decided against disclosing it to Microsoft to fix, and thereby protect the information systems used by the health service.

Industry figures and experts argue that the N.S.A. was seeking to accumulate a kind of digital arsenal — it could use the vulnerability for its own intelligence purposes while it remained unpatched. The problem was that at some point, intelligence about the vulnerability was apparently stolen. Only then did the N.S.A. tell Microsoft about its existence. As Microsoft pointed out, this was the equivalent of a Tomahawk missile going missing. British patients paid the price.
Seemingly in response to such criticisms, the bill in Australia prohibits the government from preventing a company from repairing such a vulnerability. But this is cold comfort: The N.S.A. didn’t need to prevent Microsoft patching the problem because Microsoft didn’t even know it existed.
The WannaCry attack illustrates how intelligence agencies prioritize their own interests. If we give state agencies more power to build tools to circumvent encryption, not only do we expose ourselves to the risk that they can be stolen, we are forced to trust that these agencies will behave responsibly. The evidence to date suggests the opposite.
Worse still, the Australian government hardly has the best reputation for keeping things safe. In recent times, it has lost control of medial data; one of its military contractors was hacked and lost “large amounts” of data; a cabinet full of secret documents even turned up this year in a secondhand furniture store. Just think about how easily sophisticated criminals might be able to get their hands on any digital tools for getting access to encrypted communications.
When Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the American and British spy agencies had tried to weaken encryption so that they could tap digital communications, cryptography scholars voiced their shock that these agencies would act “against the interests of the public.” “By weakening all our security so that they can listen in to the communications of our enemies,” they wrote, “they also weaken our security against our potential enemies.”
The same is true today. The Australian government is testing the limits of our democracy by seeking to empower the surveillance state, and what it learns will have implications globally. We need to take a stand against this power grab by state agencies, and reject the idea that encrypted communications undermine security. Quite the opposite: They are complementary.
***
Tuesday evening MSM news reports:  Small forming hurricane takes aim at Gulf Coast while Japan is hit and terribly punished with the largest Typhoon in 25 years — trucks blown off bridges, a large ship blown into a bridge, flying building debris, and huge sea inflows. “Waves of the sea roaring, and men’s hearts failing them for fear at the things coming on the earth.”

(Morning of the 5th) —
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6128849/Strongest-typhoon-quarter-century-hits-Japan.html
Typhoon Jebi smashes Japan: Giant waves and 135mph winds rock the country as train station roof COLLAPSES during the worst storm in 25 years and a MILLION are told to evacuate
	•	Typhoon Jebi hammered the country's west coast as it made landfall with violent winds of up to 135mph
	•	PM Shinzo Abe urged people to 'evacuate early' and called for all necessary measures to protect residents
	•	Japan's weather agency issued warnings of possible landslides, flooding, high tides, lightning and tornadoes
	•	Evacuation advisories have been issued for more than 1.19 million people in western and central parts of Japan
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Gordon-Slogs-Ashore-Mississippi-Heavy-Rains-Just-Beginning
Gordon Slogs Ashore in Mississippi; Heavy Rains Just Beginning
(Excerpt, for parts of an already drenched, flooded Midwest):  …Parts of the Midwest hard hit by very heavy rains over the past few weeks will need to keep a close eye on Gordon's remnants.
***
(September 5)
They look pretty good too and still in love, with 25 great-grandchildren! “Death is the last enemy to be conquered.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-ageing-oldest-couple/secret-to-japan-couples-80-years-of-marriage-wifes-patience-idUSKCN1LK0XH
Secret to Japan couple's 80 years of marriage: wife's patience
TAKAMATSU, Japan (Reuters) - Japan is known for its abundance of centenarians and can now lay claim to having the world’s oldest living married couple, with a combined age of 208 - a feat the wife credits to her patience during 80 years of marriage.
Masao Matsumoto, 108, and his 100-year-old wife, Miyako, have been confirmed as the oldest living spouses by aggregate age by Guinness World Records, having been married since October 1937.
***
U.S. Leathernecks and Nordic Vikings challenge Rus(sia) w/joint combat exercises. The Bear Grumbles.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/09/04/marines-are-on-swedens-coast-preparing-for-largest-nato-exercise-as-russia-grumbles/
Marines are on Sweden’s coast preparing for largest NATO exercise as Russia grumbles
***

		 
From the NYTimes on Alex Jones —  Sometimes Jones intrigues Christians for his spiels on items deemed as prophetic indicators, but for a long time he has left me and many others very wary.  Nonetheless, we are not far short of open war between the various camps in our country and culture.  Jones may be right about a growing and self-deifying AI and its stooges pulling the strings.  Where to turn?  Only searching the Word for the whole counsel of God as in Acts 20:27.  Use daily and maybe stash a few copies of your KJV or other translation also esteemed over time and use as reliable and orthodox.  Get a Strong’s Concordance and other reliable hard copy commentaries and texts as even what you may be allowed to search online may begin to shift in accuracy and be censored.  If this begins to sound like “conservatism,” maybe it is, but make it biblical conservatism rather than mere right wing politics.  We can be taken down, fooled, flummoxed by worldly politics of all stripes, but God’s Holy Word, carefully, prayerfully sought and studied stands sure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/technology/alex-jones-infowars-bans-traffic.html?emc=edit_th_180905&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980905
Alex Jones Said Bans Would Strengthen Him.  He Was Wrong.
SAN FRANCISCO — After Silicon Valley internet giants mostly barred Alex Jones from their services last month, traffic to his Infowars website and app soared on the blaze of publicity — and the notorious conspiracy theorist declared victory.
“The more I’m persecuted, the stronger I get,” Mr. Jones said on his live internet broadcast three days later. “It backfired.”
Yet a review of traffic on Infowars several weeks after the bans shows that the tech companies drastically reduced Mr. Jones’s reach by cutting off his primary distribution channels: YouTube and Facebook.
In the three weeks before the Aug. 6 bans, Infowars had a daily average of nearly 1.4 million visits to its website and views of videos posted by its main YouTube and Facebook pages, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the web data firms Tubular Labs and SimilarWeb. In the three weeks afterward, its audience fell by roughly half, to about 715,000 site visits and video views, according to the analysis.
The analysis did not include traffic to the two-month-old Infowars app or views of videos that Mr. Jones posted on Twitter, where his accounts remain active. He also still shares posts inside private Facebook groups, and his followers repost his content from their social-media accounts. But data suggest that those sources of traffic are smaller than Mr. Jones’s main Facebook and YouTube pages.
That Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, muffled one of the internet’s loudest voices so quickly illustrates the tremendous influence a few internet companies have over public discourse and the spread of information.
The fate of Infowars is likely to be a point of debate in congressional hearings on Wednesday with tech executives including Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. Part of the focus will be on claims by President Trump and other critics that Silicon Valley is silincing conservative voices.
The case of Mr. Jones and Infowars is tricky for many politicians and figures on the right. While many dislike the idea of tech companies censoring political speech, and Infowars leans far right, Mr. Jones regularly spreads lies, conspiracy theories and inflammatory attacks against political enemies. (On Thursday, a Texas judge denied his motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by parents of children killed six years ago in the Sandy Hook school shooting, which he has falsely called a hoax.)
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, tweeted in August, “Am no fan of Jones — among other things he has a habit of repeatedly slandering my Dad by falsely and absurdly accusing him of killing JFK — but who the hell made Facebook the arbiter of political speech?”
Now that access to Infowars is mainly through its website or app, Mr. Jones’s ability to reach new viewers is severely limited because they will no longer come across his videos while scrolling through Facebook or YouTube, said Monica Stephens, a geography professor at the University at Buffalo who has studied the spread of misinformation online.
“This increases the likelihood Infowars is preaching to a filter bubble versus reaching new audiences,” she said.
Another right-wing provocateur might present a cautionary tale for Mr. Jones: Milo Yiannopoulos, the former Breitbart editor. Mr. Yiannopoulos gained notoriety during the 2016 presidential race for his abusive language, and Twitter barred him that year for harassing the comedian Leslie Jones. He also lost his job at Breitbart after making glib remarks about pedophilia, and his public profile gradually faded.
Last month, Mr. Yiannopoulos lashed out at critics on Facebook, saying, “I have lost everything standing up for the truth in America, spent all my savings, destroyed all my friendships, and ruined my whole life.”
In an email, he wrote, “Social justice warriors machinate to get speakers canceled, and social networks purge conservatives, for the same reason: no-platforming works.”
Neither Mr. Jones nor Infowars responded to requests for comment.
Mr. Jones has long relied on Silicon Valley to distribute his message. His YouTube channel amassed 2.4 million subscribers and more than 1.6 billion views of nearly 36,000 videos it had posted since 2008, according to Social Blade, which tracks social media data. His success was due partly to YouTube’s video-recommendation algorithm, which, in an effort to drive clicks, pushed many users to Mr. Jones’s clips.
The main Facebook pages for Mr. Jones and Infowars, meanwhile, had drawn 668 million views of their videos over the past three years, according to Tubular Labs.
But on Aug. 6, Facebook deleted four pages run by Mr. Jones or Infowars for breaking its rules, including by “glorifying violence” and “using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants.”
YouTube erased Mr. Jones’s channel for flouting a penalty for a previous punishment for hate speech. YouTube also quietly deleted more than a dozen other channels associated with Infowars for trying to circumvent its rules.
Since then, Mr. Jones has made the companies a central theme of his near-daily show. In recent shows broadcast on his website, he has falsely accused YouTube and Facebook of being controlled by the Chinese government and assisting in an elaborate global conspiracy to control the world’s population.
“It is a panopticonic, total internet-of-things-integration, global-social-score, complete command-and-control system,” Mr. Jones said three days after the ban. “It is the virtual-reality, A.I. weapon system now attacking the United States with traitors inside the major security agencies blocking Trump’s resistance of the program.”
He added, “I have been chosen for destruction because I brought you this information.”
Mr. Jones also directly appealed to Mr. Trump, asking him to intervene. (Mr. Trump appeared on Mr. Jones’s show during the 2016 presidential campaign, telling him: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”)
Eleven days after Mr. Jones began calling on Mr. Trump to weigh in, the president tweeted: “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.”
Mr. Trump has since accelerated his criticism of Silicon Valley and how it surfaces information, alleging that Google doctored search results for his name. Google has denied the claim.
For a brief period after the bans, Mr. Jones enjoyed a bump in publicity. Traffic to Infowars.com soared 67 percent to about 777,000 visits a day in the two weeks after the ban, compared with the previous two weeks, SimilarWeb said. Downloads of the Infowars app surged sixfold to 25,500 downloads a day over the same period, according to Apptopia, which tracks app data.
But both figures have since fallen to nearly pre-ban levels. And the spike could not replace the lost traffic from the top three Facebook and YouTube channels for Infowars, which together averaged roughly 900,000 video views a day in the three weeks before the ban, according to Tubular Labs.
Other outlets have not helped much. Even as Mr. Jones’s account has remained on Twitter, his videos there attract 21,000 views on average, compared with 44,500 views per YouTube video, according to NeoReach, which helps brands market on social media. The Infowars accounts on other sites, such as Dailymotion, Amazon’s Twitch and BitChute, a video site mostly for people barred from YouTube, garner views in the hundreds for videos — and often fewer.
NeoReach said an analysis of Mr. Jones’s followers on social media showed that most were white married men, with an average age of 28 and average annual income of $46,500. NeoReach said his Twitter account “has a notable audience concentration in New York.”
Despite Mr. Jones’s early pronouncements that the bans would make his Infowars operation stronger, there are signs he is concerned.
On one recent show, he ranted without evidence that Silicon Valley companies gave liberals like the billionaire George Soros access to their users’ personal data, including “your film roll, what you did with your wife, your kids, you know, in the bathtub, Grandma.”
“It’s all theirs,” he shouted. “And everybody’s lining up to kiss these monsters’ disgusting satanic souls.”
Seconds later, the show went to a break, cutting to a recorded promotion in which Mr. Jones urged his followers to share Infowars’ videos on social media and to sign up for its newsletter “so there’s no way the censors can get between us.”

***
Before Wednesday the 5th is even over, a major 6.7 quake adds to the Typhoon in this morning’s report above.  Japan reels, very literally.  May God’s mercy be shown abundantly in these dire matters.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1013544/japan-earthquake-sapporo-hokkaido-earthquake-ring-of-fire-tsunami-warning
Japan earthquake: Sapporo city ROCKED by 6.7 earthquake
A POWERFUL earthquake has rocked the city of Sapporo in northern Japan just hours after large parts of the south of the country were battered by the biggest typhoon to hit in 25 years.

The Magnitude 6.7 quake struck 70 miles south of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Residents in the city were woken up by strong shaking shortly after 7pm BST (3am Thursday local time) as the earth moved for around 20 seconds.
Reports of power outages in Japan's northernmost prefecture have been shared on social media.
One Twitter user said: “Just woke up to a pretty damn big earthquake in Sapporo. I've been through quite a few before and I'm shaking like a leaf right now. In fact, we're getting an aftershock right now…”
The tremor struck at an approximate depth of 20 miles, USGS data said.
No tsunami warning has been issued following the earthquake, which was initially reported as a Magnitude 7.0.
The epicenter was just 16 miles from the city of Chitose, home to Hokkaido's main airport.
A Twitter user named Licia said: “My friends. We just had a major #earthquake here in Japan. #Hokkaido. #Sapporo. We are in the dark, but otherwise fine. Omg! It was humongous. No information on magnitude. Internet still works for now.”
USGS said the earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami based on its intensity, depth and historic tsunami records.
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido prefecture with a population of nearly two million people.
The earthquake comes just hours after prefectures in the south of Japan were battered by Typhoon Jebi.
At least 10 people are reported to have died and more than 100 people have been injured in damage caused to buildings and roads by the violent winds.
The cities of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto which make up the Kansai region were some of the worst hit with winds of 135mph recorded.
***
Lord, please give wisdom, discernment, and grace to AG Jeff Session in these matters of our liberty.  Renew his grace also with his President.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/405177-justice-to-convene-meeting-on-whether-social-media-companies-are
Justice to convene meeting on whether social media companies are 'intentionally stifling' free speech
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has scheduled a meeting with state attorneys general in September to discuss a “growing concern” that tech companies may be “intentionally stifling” the free flow of ideas on their platforms.
In a statement issued right after executives from Facebook and Twitter finished testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Department of Justice (DOJ) also suggested that the platforms were running afoul of antitrust laws.
“The Attorney General has convened a meeting with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms,” DOJ spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement issued near the end of the congressional hearing.
President Trump and conservative House Republicans have repeatedly aired complaints about bias against conservatives on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social media platforms. Those companies though have denied censoring conservative speech. … …
***
Is Obesity from Gluttony besmirching our spiritual testimony?  Fasting for Christians should first be for spiritual gain, but a mixed motive may allow it to make for far better physical health too.  More than one motive is not evil unless some of the lesser motives are dark and done for nefarious reasons.  A Chief Fruit of the Spirit is self-control.  Said Paul, “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/06/fasting-may-more-important-than-what-youre-eating-study-suggests/1206269002/
Want to live longer? NIA study links fasting to longevity
***
Lester Holt of NBC Nightly News reminds us this September 6 of the only 2-day-old Delta Fire on the California-Oregon border area.  300 foot high flames close over 40 miles of Interstate 5, and in jumping the freeway burn up many big rigs and cars.  No human casualties yet, thank God!  It is my imagination or is the whole planet shuttering in one event after another, daily?  Not only the planet but also the world system of iniquities shutters daily.  Come, Lord Jesus for your watching people!  Hell is breaking loose in so many ways and places.
***
England, home of the Bard, of the language, of nobles and kings and queens reduced to an Orwellian society of court-appointed baby snatchers?  (Here, I just heard a personal account from a young, first-time mother, unable to see her baby except by visitations since it was born six months ago, because the mum has a few learning issues though she and her husband both work and maintain a home.  She was so sad but brave.  God save them.)

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7174446/mum-secret-courts-children-parents-record-numbers/
THEY STOLE MY BABY Mum’s heartbreaking tale of how secret courts took her baby away forever – as we reveal children are being ripped from parents in record numbers
When mum Jill Goss visited a GP for a routine appointment to check a swelling on her baby daughter’s arm, she thought she'd be home with her ten-week-old in a few hours. But her story is one of many cases of children being torn from their parents using secretive court orders
***
(September 7)
More than once in the last week, international airlines have had to quarantine planes with many sick aboard, so far for the flu.  But now, the Ebola outbreak in Africa may be poised to strike internationally too.  Lord, keep your people from plagues as in the promises of Psalm 91.  May those there or anywhere in the world who contract Ebola, hear a call to turn to the living God in their distress.  Amen.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/09/06/philadelphia-international-airport-cdc-investigating-multiple-passengers-sick-international-flights/
CDC Investigating After Multiple Passengers Fall Ill On Separate International Flights Coming Into Philadelphia International Airport
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1014178/ebola-outbreak-latest-democratic-republic-congo-africa-unicef-world-health-organisation
EBOLA CRISIS: 'NO ONE should sleep well around WORLD' warns official after city outbreak
THE DEADLY Ebola outbreak could escalate after the first case of a patient dying in the city of Butembo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, experts have warned.
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/405395-ebola-outbreak-in-congo-spreads-to-new-city
Ebola outbreak in Congo spreads to new city
An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in two eastern provinces of Congo has spread to a major international trading hub with almost a million residents, Congolese health officials said Wednesday. 
 Health officials in Butembo, a city with close links to neighboring Uganda, said they had confirmed that a man who died at Butembo University Hospital had tested positive for the virus. 

***
What stratagem might unglue the EU?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1014147/france-news-european-elections-eu-nationalists-marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron?utm_source=traffic.outbrain&utm_medium=traffic.outbrain&utm_term=traffic.outbrain&utm_content=traffic.outbrain&utm_campaign=traffic.outbrain
‘END OF EU' Macron aide admits French nationalists could STORM to victory in European vote
NEXT year’s parliamentary elections will be “unlike any other” because they could mark the ‘end’ of the European Union, an unnamed ministerial source told Paris Match.
Support for French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party has dropped, with its lead over Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement national ahead of next May’s European Parliament elections now only three percentage points, a poll published on Wednesday showed.
The upcoming elections are already gearing up to be a bitter battle between centrist, pro-Europe parties like Mr Macron’s La République en Marche, and hardline right-wing and far-right groups like Rassemblement national that have pledged to upend the political status quo following a decade marred by financial and immigration crises.
The survey, conducted by Ifop-Fiducial for Paris Match, Sud Radio and CNews, showed Mr Macron’s party garnering 20 per cent of the French vote in the European elections, down from 23 per cent in the last survey in June. … …
***
Brazilian Far Right and Leading Presidential Candidate Assassination Attempt —

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-election-bolsonaro/brazil-far-right-candidate-bolsonaro-stabbed-while-campaigning-idUSKCN1LM2YJ
Brazil far-right candidate Bolsonaro in serious condition after stabbing
JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (Reuters) - The leading candidate in Brazil’s presidential election is in serious but stable condition after being stabbed by an assailant at a campaign rally on Thursday, doctors said, pushing an already chaotic campaign into further disarray.
Far-right firebrand Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial figure who has enraged many Brazilians for years with divisive comments, but has a devout following among conservative voters, could take two months to fully recover and will spend at least a week in the hospital, said Dr. Luiz Henrique Borsato, who operated on the candidate.
“His internal wounds were grave and put the patient’s life at risk,” Borsato said, adding that a serious challenge now would be preventing an infection that could be caused by the perforation of Bolsonaro’s intestines.
The attack on Bolsonaro, 63, is a dramatic twist in what was already Brazil’s most unpredictable election since the country’s return to democracy three decades ago. Corruption investigations have jailed scores of powerful businessmen and politicians in recent years, and alienated infuriated voters.
There were fears that violence could flare across Brazil on Friday, as the nation celebrates its Independence Day and political groups are expected to march in hundreds of cities. Bolsonaro’s rival candidates called off their campaign activities for Friday.
***
(September 8)
The troubling approach of Hurricane Florence.  Will it strike the Bahamas and/or the East Coast as a Category 4?  Lord, you know all things, the end from the beginning.  If Florence is more judgment, may it also awaken some who live in disbelief; may it awaken careless, spiritually sleeping Christians; may those who call on you in faith and truth be kept from its harms.  We watch and pray.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/florence-may-track-near-bermuda-us-east-coast-while-it-restrengthens-in-atlantic/70005975
Florence may track near Bermuda, US East Coast while it restrengthens in Atlantic
Florence is forecast to restrengthen into a hurricane and push close to Bermuda and the United States East Coast next week. Florence is expected to have an indirect impact and may evolve into a serious direct threat. … …
***
Which is worse, Globalism, mass migration, dissolution of nations OR right wing return to fascism, Nazism, violent xenophobia over the fear of loss of identity and nation?  What a terrible hot forge is being whetted by the preparations for “the man of sin” to arise!
https://www.france24.com/en/20180907-far-right-seen-surging-swedish-election-outcome-uncertain
Far-right seen surging as Swedish election outcome uncertain

STOCKHOLM (AFP)  Swedes vote in legislative elections on Sunday expected to see the far-right surge amid a deep rift over the integration of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, with the election outcome seen as uncertain.
Neither Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's left-wing bloc nor the centre-right opposition were seen obtaining a majority.
The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), an anti-immigration party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, are tipped to win around 20 percent of votes, according to an average of seven polling institutes published in the past 10 days, up from 13 percent in 2014 elections. … …
***
What?! Only one in four?  The latest, 5th Edition, DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) indicates nearly everyone is nuts in one way or another.  The esteemed shrink editor of the 4th edition resigned in disgust at the insistences of the 5th edition.
(May God have mercy on today’s college students, and save from among them, from the horrendous, twisting, moral, spiritual, physical and psychological pressures to which they are exposed.)
https://www.studyfinds.org/study-quarter-college-students-diganosed-mental-health-condition/
Study: 1 In 4 College Students Diagnosed With Mental Health Condition
BOSTON — For some, it’s the best four years of their lives. For others, it’s a period of constant struggle, whether academically, socially, or both. College brings about new experiences and challenges for young adults that can be difficult to adapt to and overcome, so perhaps it’s no surprise that a new study reports high rates of stress and mental health conditions among students.
The newly-published report out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that a quarter of college students received were diagnosed with a mental health condition in the past year, and a fifth have had suicidal thoughts. … …
***
(September 9)
“Ah, just relax!  Big Brother is making life easier and easier for you!”
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-facial-recognition-touted-user-friendly.html
Facial recognition touted as 'user friendly' system for airports
As facial recognition technology use generates intense scrutiny, a new system unveiled at Washington's Dulles airport is being touted as a "user friendly" way to help ease congestion for air travelers.
Officials at Dulles unveiled two new face recognition systems Thursday, one to meet legal requirements for biometric entry-exit records, and a second to help speed processing of travelers arriving on international flights by matching their real-time images with stored photos.
The growing use of facial recognition has ignited debate over surveillance and privacy around the world, but officials told media this system was a way to help reducing annoying lines and wait times without compromising security.
"The technology works," US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told reporters at an airport unveiling.
"It's fast, it's user-friendly, it's flexible and it's cost-effective. And we believe it will change the face of international travel."
Over time, officials say the biometric recognition system will allow a traveler's face to eliminate the need for a boarding pass. "No more fumbling with your boarding pass when you have two carry-ons, maybe a kid, no more trying to find a QR code or trying the refresh your screen," McAleenan said.
In one test for the system, McAleenan said the boarding 350 passengers for an Airbus A380 aircraft was completed in 20 minutes, or half the normal time.
At Dulles, officials showed how the new systems, operated with iPads mounted on poles, identified and matched the image of travelers during the boarding process.  … …

***
The Gates of Hell in Berlin.  Don’t read this lightly.  As low as humans can go without carnage as a stage show and death itself…and that is nearby.  It sounds the vomitous sicknesses of not honoring God’s established orders for the genders, taken to the most revolting degrees.  May God save at least a few fools who have wondered into it in their foolish rebellions.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-drag-and-burlesque-shows-keeping-berlin-edgy
The Drag and Burlesque Shows Keeping Berlin Edgy
The city’s reputation as an epicenter for fetish and fantasy is part of what draws more than 12 million tourists per year; but locals know that hedonism is only the beginning.
***
Enslaved by YouTube AI Algorithms / “The Future is Now” /  YouTube Stars face down the madness of machine-directed success.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/08/youtube-stars-burnout-fun-bleak-stressed
The YouTube stars heading for burnout: ‘The most fun job imaginable became deeply bleak’
Why are so many YouTubers finding themselves stressed, lonely and exhausted?
When Matt Lees became a full-time YouTuber, he felt as if he had won the lottery. As a young, ambitious writer, director and presenter, he was able to create low-budget, high-impact films that could reach a worldwide audience, in a way that would have been impossible without the blessing of television’s gatekeepers just a few years earlier. In February 2013, he had his first viral hit, an abridged version of Sony’s announcement of its PlayStation 4 video game console, dubbed with a cheerily acerbic commentary. Within days the video had been watched millions of times. “It hardly seems viral at all, by today’s standards,” Lees says, yet it was one of the most viewed videos on YouTube that month. The boost to Lees’ ego was nothing compared with the effect it had on his career. When YouTube’s algorithm notices this sort of success, it starts directing viewers to the uploader’s other videos, earning the channel more subscribers and, via the snippety advertisements that play before each one, higher income. Overnight, Lees had what seemed like the first shoots of a sustainable career.
Excitement soon gave way to anxiety. Even in 2013, Lees was aware that his success depended not so much on smash hits as on day-by-day reliability. “It’s not enough to simply create great things,” he says. “The audience expect consistency. They expect frequency. Without these, it’s incredibly easy to slip off the radar and lose favour with the algorithm that gave you your wings.” By the end of the year Lees had grown his channel from 1,000 subscribers to 90,000, and caught the attention of one of his influences, Charlie Brooker, who invited Lees to collaborate on writing a Channel 4 special. For a month Lees worked 20-hour days, dividing his time between the TV script work and, ever conscious that missing a day’s upload could cause his videos to tumble down the search rankings, his YouTube channel.
 It’s toxic: the point at which you’re breaking down is the point at which the algorithm loves you the most
At the end of the month he was pale, gaunt and tired in a way that, he recalls, seemed “impervious to rest”. His work, he noticed, had become increasingly rushed and harsh in tone. Yet the angry, provocative quality of his videos seemed only to be making them more popular. “Divisive content is the king of online media today, and YouTube heavily boosts anything that riles people up,” he says. “It’s one of the most toxic things: the point at which you’re breaking down is the point at which the algorithm loves you the most.”
Lees began to feel a knock-on effect on his health. “Human brains really aren’t designed to be interacting with hundreds of people every day,” he says. “When you’ve got thousands of people giving you direct feedback on your work, you really get the sense that something in your mind just snaps. We just aren’t built to handle empathy and sympathy on that scale.” Lees developed a thyroid problem, and began to experience more frequent and persistent stretches of depression. “What started out as being the most fun job imaginable quickly slid into something that felt deeply bleak and lonely,” he says. … …
***
Two components of the End of the Age — an antichrist world religion and an antichrist political machine striving toward Armageddon crash into one another?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/asia/china-uighur-muslim-detention-camp.html?emc=edit_th_180909&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980909
China Is Detaining Muslims in Vast Numbers. The Goal: ‘Transformation.’

HOTAN, China — On the edge of a desert in far western China, an imposing building sits behind a fence topped with barbed wire. Large red characters on the facade urge people to learn Chinese, study law and acquire job skills. Guards make clear that visitors are not welcome.
Inside, hundreds of ethnic Uighur Muslims spend their days in a high-pressure indoctrination program, where they are forced to listen to lectures, sing hymns praising the Chinese Communist Party and write “self-criticism” essays, according to detainees who have been released.
The goal is to rid them of devotion to Islam.
Abdusalam Muhemet, 41, said the police detained him for reciting a verse of the Quran at a funeral. After two months in a nearby camp, he and more than 30 others were ordered to renounce their past lives. Mr. Muhemet said he went along but quietly seethed.
“That was not a place for getting rid of extremism,” he recalled. “That was a place that will breed vengeful feelings and erase Uighur identity.”
This camp outside Hotan, an ancient oasis town in the Taklamakan Desert, is one of hundreds that China has built in the past few years. It is part of a campaign of breathtaking scale and ferocity that has swept up hundreds of thousands of Chinese Muslims for weeks or months of what critics describe as brainwashing, usually without criminal charges.
Though limited to China’s western region of Xinjiang, it is the country’s most sweeping internment program since the Mao era — and the focus of a growing chorus of international criticism.
China has sought for decades to restrict the practice of Islam and maintain an iron grip in Xinjiang, a region almost as big as Alaska where more than half the population of 24 million belongs to Muslim ethnic minority groups.  Most are Uighurs, whose religion, language and culture, along with a history of independence movements and resistance to Chinese rule, have long unnerved Beijing.
After a succession of violent antigovernment attacks reached a peak in 2014,  the Communist Party chief, Xi Jinping, sharply escalated the crackdown, orchestrating an unforgiving drive to turn ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities into loyal citizens and supporters of the party. … …

***	***	***

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”
(Colossians 4:2)

***********************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

September 2

Saints,

This has been a week of devastations against the Roman Catholic Church.  Serious Bible searchers can traffic very little with the RCC; the pagan-based mythologies and doctrines and dogmas of the RCC tend to quickly subvert and destroy the truths of biblical orthodoxy which it claims, but, unfortunately, just as bad or worse are the apostasies of mainline Protestantism at this state of decline.  In all cases, we can hope that those who name the name of Jesus in simple and sincere Faith may be saved, but many will also come in his name but be cast away by Him at the Judgments, “I never knew you.”  Unfortunately, even many who claim a narrower and more biblical stand will also be revealed as pharisees and wrongly motivated “disciples,” working for their own gain and glory.  It causes me great fear, the very Fear of God when I consider such things lest I also be cast away, as Paul feared in 1 Cor. 9:27, and consider the desire that my repentance not be merely “the sorrow of the world which worketh death,” but “godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation”  (2 Cor. 7:10).  Thank God, that though we must tremble over our transgressional natures, God is applying his cross to us, and we can relax and rejoice in his gospel, for though we know very little and can be deceived easily, yet He knows those who love Him and are his (1 Cor. 8:2-3).

The fear of God, received in repentance, also works another glorious miracle in us who believe.  We lose the fear of man, and even of the devil, not foolishly but respectfully, because we soon learn that nothing can get by God, nor can anything come upon us without his allowance, and even for our eternal good.  Says St. Paul, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).  We can rest assured that even when we must suffer, as Peter illuminates in his “suffering chapter,” I Peter 4, that is unto God and works for us.

Seeing these things then, “The righteous are as bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1), knowing that nothing man (or the devil) can do can “separate from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8).

***

The Week —
 (August 27)
No sooner has John McCain’s passing filled the news, then an unrelated mass-shooting occurs to turn the attention of the Media.  Entranced/possessed Gamer acts out Game violence in the real world?  “In the last days…men shall be…incontinent (insane), fierce…” (see 2 Tim. 3:1ff.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6100355/Four-dead-10-injured-mass-shooting-Florida-Madden-online-gaming-tournament.html
Chilling moment loser pro-gamer shot dead 22-year-old with laser-sighted gun is caught on livestream: Killer then murdered a 27-year-old father and injured 11 more at tournament before taking his own life
	•	David Katz, 24, has been identified as the shooter who killed himself at scene
	•	Killed were West Virginian Taylor Robertson, 27, and Californian Eli Clayton, 22 
	•	Mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday also left 11 others injured
	•	Shooting broke out during the Madden NFL gaming tournament in Jacksonville
	•	Witnesses say the shooter was a pro gamer who had just lost in the tournament
	•	Other gamers described Katz as 'weird' and 'nerdy' and refusing to shake hands 
	•	Horrifying livestream audio from tournament captured the screams of victims
	•	Shooter allegedly had laser gun-sight and shot up room before taking own life
	•	Federal agents raided the shooter's family home in an upscale part of Baltimore
	•	Florida governor visited victims and Trump has offered federal resources to help

***
Pothead nursing mothers creating stoned/entranced/brain-damaged babies?
https://apnews.com/f3eee039def845a58f71030ef8b8826c/Mind-altering-breast-milk?-New-pot-study-poses-that-question
Mind-altering breast milk? New pot study poses that question
CHICAGO (AP) — Marijuana’s main mind-altering ingredient was detected in nursing mothers’ breast milk in a small study that comes amid evidence that more U.S. women are using pot during pregnancy and afterward.
Experts say the ingredient, THC, has chemical properties that could allow it to disrupt brain development and potentially cause harm, although solid evidence of that is lacking.
The new study involved 50 nursing mothers who were using pot and provided breast milk samples to researchers at the University of California, San Diego. Lab testing found small amounts of THC, the psychoactive chemical that causes marijuana’s “high,” in 34 of 54 samples up to six days after they were provided. Another form of THC and cannabidiol, a pot chemical touted by some as a health aid, were detected in five samples.
The study authors said “it is reasonable to speculate” that exposing infants to THC or cannabidiol “could influence normal brain development,” depending on dose and timing. … …

***
Seems innocuous, harmless, but will Beastly AI’s groom your working hours with required caffeine boosts by insistent drone delivery, then tuck you into bed at night with a downer?  
Reminds one of the old Rolling Stones’ tune, “Mother’s little helper, gets you through your trying day…”
https://abc13.com/4059117/
A coffee delivery drone could predict when you need a caffeine boost
Your cup of Joe could soon be coming to you by drone.
IBM has filed a new patent for a device that will deliver coffee by air when it decides you need caffeine.
The technology includes a device that can track energy, blood pressure and even your pupil size. (emphasis added)
If you need an energy boost, the drone will bring you a hot cup of coffee.
Right now, it's just an idea, so there's no word on when or if the service will be available. (ed. note:  “famous last words,” the tech is surely even now in place, only the execution awaits)
		
		***
Heat on the Papacy increases and from high within —
		
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location%3DpMJKdIFVI6pghfX2HXfSzxRpdoyDWYNWMaG9Pg/mxWdXBexhJZpTeAxmN7yApIB0VnSw67IgHkFriWXBZi8lX9V3OPHZAb5gkT60nXGft44uynGuFYfAsGzXi1VU9xZil7XXOWbHuirPBL30b00ipkZXKmiQ5jYGB4LbHa4pRH8qRoF82DIeuA%3D%3D%26campaign_id%3D2%26instance_id%3D3613%26segment_id%3D5076%26user_id%3D6d027787992cab573bee886d9c419ec4%26regi_id%3D693819980827&source=gmail&ust=1535455833036000&usg=AFQjCNEfFHvsvHjoBjh8SJUzfJPu-_GPpQ
Pope Francis Long Knew of Cardinal’s Abuse and Must Resign, Archbishop Says
		
DUBLIN — On the final day of Pope Francis’ mission to Ireland, as he issued wrenching apologies for clerical sex abuse scandals, a former top Vatican diplomat claimed in a letter published on Sunday that the pope himself had joined top Vatican officials in covering up the abuses and called for his resignation.
The letter, a bombshell written by Carlo Maria Viganò, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States and a staunch critic of the pope’s, seemed timed to do more than simply derail Francis’ uphill efforts to win back the Irish faithful, who have turned away from the church in large numbers.
Its unsubstantiated allegations and personal attacks amounted to an extraordinary public declaration of war against Francis’ papacy at perhaps its most vulnerable moment, intended to unseat a pope whose predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years.
Archbishop Viganò claimed that the Vatican hierarchy was complicit in covering up accusations that Cardinal Theodore McCormick had sexually abused seminarians  and that Pope Francis knew about the abuses by the now-disgraced American prelate years before they became public. Yet, the letter contended, Francis did not punish the cardinal, but instead empowered him to help choose powerful American bishops. … …

excerpt from the accusations:  
“Holy Father,” Archbishop Viganò said he had responded, “I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.”
Archbishop Viganò, who blames gays for the child abuse crisis that has destroyed the church’s standing in many countries, dedicated entire sections of the letter to outing cardinals who he claims belong to what he characterizes as a pernicious “homosexual current” within the Vatican.
“These homosexual networks,” he wrote, “which are now widespread in many dioceses, seminaries, religious orders, etc., act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations, and are strangling the entire church.”
In a news conference on the papal plane back to Rome late Sunday evening, Francis was asked whether there was any truth to the claim that Archbishop Viganò had personally informed him in 2013 of Cardinal McCarrick’s history of abuse. He was also asked whether Benedict had sanctioned the American cardinal, as the letter also claimed.
The pope did not deny it, but sidestepped the questions by insisting he would not dignify them with a response.
		***
		
Brazil decides to laud “Queer Museum” after initial protests shut it down.  Blasphemies of Christ reportedly also were part of the exhibition.
		
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/12/brazil-queer-art-show-cancelled-protest
Brazilian queer art exhibition cancelled after campaign by rightwing protesters
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/americas/queer-museum-rio-de-janeiro-brazil.html
In Brazil, ‘Queer Museum’ Is Censored, Debated, Then Celebrated

		
		***		
Parting shot from old order Republican liberalism proclaiming itself as patriotism in an overall Age of Collapse?  — Drudge labels it “McCain slams Trump from beyond the grave”
		
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mccain-s-farewell-message-n904171
		
McCain appears to criticize Trump in farewell message to the nation
The Arizona Republican's moving final words were read to the public by his close friend Rick Davis in Arizona.
		
Sen. John McCain, who passed away Saturday from brain cancer, penned a farewell message before he died that appears to take thinly veiled shots at President Donald Trump for fanning the flames of "tribal rivalries" and hiding "behind walls."
The moving message, a personal tribute to America and its people, was read to the public Monday by Rick Davis, a close friend of McCain's and the national campaign manager of the Arizona Republican's 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns.
Speaking of country's best qualities, McCain wrote that "we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe."
"We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been," Davis, holding back tears, said as he read McCain's message in Phoenix.
"Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here," McCain wrote. "Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."
The message, which Davis described as McCain's "final words," did not mention Trump by name but it appeared clear whom some of the remarks were aimed at. … …
		
		***
In the midst of, or next door to, the western fires, fresh summer snow in the mountains!?
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/08/27/summer-snow-falling-in-northern-rockies/
Summer Snow Falling In Montana, Idaho And Wyoming
		
***
(August 29)
Without taking any political position, one can see a fine example, in my opinion, of editorial propaganda in Paul Krugman’s commentary in the NYT for August 28.  He identifies Globalism, ultra-inclusivism, with righteousness and Nationalism with racism and fascism.  One little phrase gives away his partisanship, “democracy as we normally understand it.”  Any semblance of true objectivity goes out the window with that “normalizing” of his opinions to follow.  So goes “the MSM” (The Mainstream Media, Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth”); I find I must read and consider every input I choose to consider with caution and vigilance.  

Note: The Lord establishes the nations in Genesis 10.  We see them continuing through the Millennium in Revelation 22:2.  Gathering all into one is Globalism and the kingdom of the Antichrist;  in Babylon, the languages were confused by God to keep an antichrist kingdom from rising then; the present will to this evil will bring in the last, great “Mystery Babylon.”  We will only be all one, realized in Christ in Eternity.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/opinion/trump-republican-party-authoritarianism.html?emc=edit_th_180828&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980828
Why It Can Happen Here
We’re very close to becoming another Poland or Hungary.

 (opening excerpts): Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine — an expert on international relations — made a joke: “Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path — fascism.” Even at the time, his quip had a real edge.
And as of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all. What Freedom House calls illiberalism is on the rise across Eastern Europe. This includes Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it (emphasis added) is already dead.
In both countries the ruling parties — Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary — have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future.
And it could all too easily happen here. There was a time, not long ago, when people used to say that our democratic norms, our proud history of freedom, would protect us from such a slide into tyranny. In fact, some people still say that. But believing such a thing today requires willful blindness. The fact is that the Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule. … …

***

The NYT weighs in on the existential struggle developing for the RCC —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/world/europe/vatican-power-struggle-bursts-into-open-as-conservatives-pounce.html?emc=edit_th_180828&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980828
Vatican Power Struggle Bursts Into Open as Conservatives Pounce
ROME — Since the start of his papacy, Francis has infuriated Catholic traditionalists as he tries to nurture a more welcoming church and shift it away from culture war issues, whether abortion or homosexuality. “Who am I to judge?” the pope famously said, when asked about gay priests.Just how angry his political and doctrinal enemies are became clear this weekend, when a caustic letter published by the Vatican’s former top diplomat in the United States blamed a “homosexual current” in the Vatican hierarchy for sexual abuse. It called for Francis’ resignation, accusing him of covering up for a disgraced cardinal, Theodore E. McCarrick.With the letter — released in the middle of the pope’s visit to Ireland — an ideologically motivated opposition has weaponized the church’s sex abuse crisis to threaten not only Francis’ agenda but his entire papacy. At the very least, it has returned the issue of homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church, which many conservatives are convinced lies behind the abuse crisis, to the center of debate.
Vatican intrigues and power struggles are nothing new, but they usually remain within the medieval walls or fly over the heads of the Catholic faithful around the globe.
This battle, however, is being waged in an exceptionally open and brutal manner. It is fueled by a modern media age, the pope’s reluctance to silence critics, and an issue — child sexual abuse — that perhaps more than any other has prompted defections among the faithful.
The accusations in the letter remain unsubstantiated. Asked Sunday night about their validity, Francis said he would not dignify them with a response.
But they are serious, and the pope’s vague answer has only heightened public interest, particularly in the core accusation — that he was told about Mr. McCarrick’s history of sexual relations with seminarians and did nothing about it.
“It’s a serious problem,” said Sandro Magister, a veteran Vatican observer at L’Espresso magazine, who said the remarkable public broadside was indicative of enormous frustration among conservatives toward Francis. He doubted whether Francis, who has essentially ignored such salvos in the past, would be able to do so this time.
“With this issue,” Mr. Magister said, “the public impact is much stronger, and on this ground he is rather vulnerable.”
Francis’ non-answer is in keeping with his reluctance to give oxygen to a small — if influential and noisy — group of conservative prelates and writers aligned with the author of the letter, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States.
Francis has removed from office or sidelined ideological opponents in the bureaucracy of the church, but he has also been more willing than his predecessors to allow open debate and even dissent. Many have challenged him, in sometimes coarse language, for his openness to making some church practices less rigid, among them the exclusion of divorced and remarried parishioners from receiving Communion.
On Monday, Francis’ supporters shrugged off the letter as another desperate attack from frustrated conservatives still unaccustomed to not getting their way. They expressed confidence that its accusations would be disproved.
Some abuse survivors, who have been pressing Pope Francis to take concrete action about the crisis instead of just offering apologies, however heartfelt, argued that Archbishop Viganò’s letter exploited the abuse for political gain. The letter did not, they said, show particular concern about the plight of the church’s children.
The child sex abuse scandal has riveted the attention of the world’s Catholics, but the shift in the church’s direction under Francis has enlivened his enemies. They believe that the pope’s message of inclusion is undermining longstanding church rules, and that it is leading to confusion and perhaps schism.
The explosion of conservative Catholic blogs — many in the United States — in an era of lightning-fast modern media, as well as the strategically timed release of the letter combined to make a potent rear-guard action against the 81-year-old pontiff.
“Let us be clear that they are still allegations, but as your shepherd I find them to be credible,” the conservative Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Tex., wrote in an open letter to his diocese. “I will lend my voice in whatever way necessary to call for this investigation and urge that its findings demand accountability of all found to be culpable even at the highest levels of the church.”
If Francis thought that the debate over homosexuality in the church was behind him, the events of this week suggest otherwise.
“The homosexual networks present in the Church must be eradicated,” Archbishop Viganò wrote, arguing that it was the root cause of abuse.
The abuse scandal had already set off a fierce debate in Catholic journals and across churches. Some critics of the church have blamed the vows of celibacy, arguing that suppressing the human libido can lead to pedophilia and rape.
At the Conference of Catholic Families, a rival, conservative event to the Vatican’s World Meeting of Families in Dublin this past weekend, organizers found the pope’s recent condemnation of abuse unsatisfactory because he did not call out homosexuality. That, they say, has turned seminaries into “cesspits.”
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa has also blamed homosexuality for the scandal. And Cardinal Raymond Burke, a high-ranking Vatican conservative and a leading critic of the pope, has denounced what he says is “a very grave problem of a homosexual culture in the church.” The problem, he said, is not only among the clergy “but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root.”
Cardinal Raymond Burke, a high-ranking Vatican conservative, has spoken of what he says is “a very grave problem of a homosexual culture in the church.”
In 2005, the Vatican stated that even celibate gays should not be priests, and instructed church leaders to reject seminary applications from men who “practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’”
Critics of Francis believe that a meeting in Rome of bishops from around the world in October on the theme of youth could become a battleground. They want to make sure the church’s opposition to homosexuality is on the radar should the issue of sex abuse come up, as it now certainly will.
In May, Francis reportedly told Italian bishops that when it came to potentially gay seminary applicants, “if there’s even the slightest doubt, better to not accept them.”
Even so, Archbishop Viganò and his allies have argued that the pope and his supporters are too accepting of gays in the church and that they willfully ignore that the vast majority of victims of sexual abuse by priests are male.
Most experts reject the conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia as a dangerous route to bigotry against gays. Outside the church, the belief has been widely discredited as retrograde.
But it still has traction in the Vatican. Many here believe that an investigation by three cardinals following the 2012 Vatileaks scandal — based on the leaked memos of the same Archbishop Viganò who wrote Sunday’s letter — revealed a gay lobby working in the Holy See and that their report contributed to the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI.
The report remains a closely held Vatican secret, but in his letter, Archbishop Viganò included a slew of names and targeted allies of Francis who share the pope’s views.
He said Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago was “blinded by his pro-gay ideology.” And he took issue with the assertion of Cardinal Cupich, a past president of the Committee on Protection of Children and Young People, “that the main problem in the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy is not homosexuality, and that affirming this is only a way of diverting attention from the real problem, which is clericalism.”
In an interview on Sunday, Cardinal Cupich said: “I think it is wrong to scapegoat gays and homosexuals as though there is a greater likelihood that gay people are going to offend children than straight people. That data doesn’t bear that out.”
The Viganò letter also lamented that the Vatican had brought on the Jesuit priest James Martin, who has written a book on how to make gay Catholics feel more welcome in the Church, as a consultor of the Secretariat for Communications.
The church under Francis, Archbishop Viganò writes, has “chosen to corrupt the young people who will soon gather in Dublin for the World Meeting of Families,” by inviting Father Martin to speak there.
In an interview, Father Martin said, “The reason it seems like all gay priests are abusers is that there are no public counterexamples of healthy celibate gay priests, because most gay priests are afraid to come out in this poisonous environment.”
He rejected the notion of gay priests as more likely to commit child abuse as scientifically wrong and “simply a stereotype.” He added, “It’s all about fear.”
Even as the controversy swirled around him, Pope Francis worked to allay that fear Sunday night.
One of the last questions on the papal plane was what a Catholic parent should say to a gay son or daughter.
“Do not condemn,” Francis said. “Dialogue. Understand. Make space for the son or daughter; make space so they express themselves.”
He suggested a conversation the parent might have with a child, offering: “You are my son. You are my daughter, as you are. I am your father, or mother. Let’s talk.”

***
Thanks be to God for this decision.  Could the USA be hanging by such a slim but strong thread that denial of this statement could bring the final, terrible judgment?
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-court-rejects-atheists-appeal-over-god-trust-173316736.html
U.S. court rejects atheists' appeal over 'In God We Trust' on money
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday said printing "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency is constitutional, citing its longstanding use and saying it was not coercive.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota rejected claims by 29 atheists, children of atheists and atheist groups that inscribing the national motto on bills and coins violated their First Amendment free speech and religious rights. … …

***
(August 29)
Troubles bubble in SocialMedia Cyberverse — President Trump warns, accuses; Social Medias initially deny, but their own staffs and cultures raise up a witness against them.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-accuses-google-hiding-fair-media-coverage-him-132225776--finance.html
White House probes Google after Trump accuses it of bias
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Google's search engine of promoting negative news articles and hiding "fair media" coverage of him, vowing to address the situation…
https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2018/08/28/google-ceo-pichai-faulted-by-senators-for-declining-to-testify#gs.C=si3=o
Senators Criticize Google CEO for Declining to Testify
(Bloomberg) -- Google’s Sundar Pichai is facing bipartisan criticism for refusing to testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing next week, but the panel’s chairman signaled he’s unlikely to issue a subpoena to force the chief executive officer to appear.
“I don’t normally subpoena people to be part of the solution," Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina said Tuesday when asked if he’s considering such a step. "Google chooses not to participate and being part of the solution. That’s a decision they made.” … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/technology/inside-facebook-employees-political-bias.html
Dozens at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture SAN FRANCISCO — The post went up quietly on Facebook’s internal message board last week. Titled “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity,” it quickly took off inside the social network.
“We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views,” Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the post, which was obtained by The New York Times. “We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”
Since the post went up, more than 100 Facebook employees have joined Mr. Amerige to form an online group called FB’ers for Political Diversity, according to two people who viewed the group’s page and who were not authorized to speak publicly. The aim of the initiative, according to Mr. Amerige’s memo, is to create a space for ideological diversity within the company.
The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities. One engineer, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said several people had lodged complaints with their managers about FB’ers for Political Diversity and were told that it had not broken any company rules.

Another employee said the group appeared to be constructive and inclusive of different political viewpoints. Mr. Amerige did not respond to requests for comment.
The activity is a rare sign of organized dissent within Facebook over the company’s largely liberal workplace culture. While the new group is just a sliver of Facebook’s work force of more than 25,000, the company’s workers have in the past appeared less inclined than their peers at other tech companies to challenge leadership, and most have been loyalists to its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.
But over the past two years, Facebook has undergone a series of crises, including the spread of misinformation by Russians on its platform and the mishandling of users’ data. Facebook has also been accused of stifling conservative speech by President Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, among others. This month, the social network barred the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a move that critics seized on as further evidence that the company harbors an anti-conservative bias.
Within Facebook, several employees said, people have argued over the decisions to ban certain accounts while allowing others. At staff meetings, they said, some workers have repeatedly asked for more guidance on what content the company disallows, and why. Others have said Facebook, out of fear of being seen as biased, has let too many right-wing groups flourish on the site.
The dispute over employees’ political ideology arose a week before Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, is scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing about social media manipulation in elections. A team helping Ms. Sandberg get ready for the hearing next Wednesday has warned her that some Republican lawmakers may raise questions about Facebook and biases, according to two people involved in the preparations.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again brought up the issue of bias by tech companies with tweets attacking Google. In remarks later in the day, he widened his focus to include Twitter and Facebook.
Those companies “better be careful because you can’t do that to people,” Mr. Trump said. “I think that Google, and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful. It is not fair to large portions of the population.”

‘We Have a Problem With Political Diversity’
A senior Facebook engineer wrote an internal message about what he described as the company’s “monoculture.”
Facebook has long been viewed as a predominantly liberal company. Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg have donated to Democratic politicians, for example, and have supported issues such as immigration reform.
The social network has sometimes struggled to integrate conservatives into its leadership. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, the maker of virtual reality goggles that Facebook acquired, was pressured to leave the company last year, months after news spread that he had secretly donated to an organization dedicated to spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet memes. And Peter Thiel, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, has faced calls for his resignation from Facebook’s board.
Mr. Zuckerberg publicly defended Mr. Thiel last year, saying that he valued Mr. Thiel and that it was important to maintain diversity on the board. In an appearance before Congress this year, Mr. Zuckerberg responded to a question about anti-conservative bias by saying he wanted Facebook to “be a platform for all ideas.”
In May, Facebook announced that former Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, would lead an inquiry into allegations of anti-conservative bias on the social network. New employees also go through training that describes how to have respectful conversations about politics and diversity.

Other Silicon Valley companies, including Google, have also experienced a wave of employee activism over diversity. If tech companies are willing to adjust their workplaces to make underrepresented groups more welcome, some employees argue, they should extend the same regard to those who do not fit the liberal-leaning Silicon Valley mold.
Mr. Amerige, who started working at Facebook in 2012, said on his personal website that he followed philosophical principles laid out by the philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. He posted the 527-word memo about political diversity at Facebook on Aug. 20.
On issues like diversity and immigration, he wrote, “you can either keep quiet or sacrifice your reputation and career.”
Mr. Amerige proposed that Facebook employees debate their political ideas in the new group — one of tens of thousands of internal groups that cover a range of topics — adding that this debate would better equip the company to host a variety of viewpoints on its platform.
“We are entrusted by a great part of the world to be impartial and transparent carriers of people’s stories, ideas and commentary,” Mr. Amerige wrote. “Congress doesn’t think we can do this. The president doesn’t think we can do this. And like them or not, we deserve that criticism.”

***

Vatican Intrigues Escalate as Archbishop Goes Into Hiding? 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/world/europe/vatican-power-struggle-bursts-into-open-as-conservatives-pounce.html
The Man Who Took On the Pope:  The Story Behind the Vigano Letter
ROME — At 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò showed up at the Rome apartment of a conservative Vatican reporter with a simple clerical collar, a Rocky Mountains baseball cap and an explosive story to tell.
Archbishop Viganò, the former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, spent the morning working shoulder to shoulder with the reporter at his dining room table on a 7,000-word letter that called for the resignation of Pope Francis, accusing him of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a “homosexual current” in the Vatican.
The journalist, Marco Tosatti, said he had smoothed out the narrative. The enraged archbishop brought no evidence, he said, but he did supply the flair, condemning the homosexual networks inside the church that act “with the power of octopus tentacles” to “strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.”
“The poetry is all his,” Mr. Tosatti said.
When the letter was finished, Archbishop Viganò took his leave, turning off his cellphone. Keeping his destination a secret because he was “worried for his own security,” Mr. Tosatti said, the archbishop then simply “disappeared.”

The letter, published on Sunday, has challenged Pope Francis’ papacy and shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its core. The pope has said he won’t dignify it with a response, yet the allegations have touched off an ideological civil war, with the usually shadowy Vatican backstabbing giving way to open combat.
The letter exposed deep ideological clashes, with conservatives taking up arms against Francis’ inclusive vision of a church that is less focused on divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality. But Archbishop Viganò — who himself has been accused of hindering a sexual misconduct investigation in Minnesota — also seems to be settling old scores.
As the papal ambassador, or nuncio, in the United States, Archbishop Viganò sided with conservative culture warriors and used his role in naming new bishops to put staunch conservatives in San Francisco, Denver and Baltimore. But he found himself iced out after the election of Pope Francis.
Then in 2015, he personally ran afoul of Francis. His decision to invite a staunch critic of gay rights to greet the pope in Washington during a visit to the United States directly challenged Francis’ inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip.
Juan Carlos Cruz, an abuse survivor with whom Francis has spoken at length, said the pope recently told him Archbishop Viganò nearly sabotaged the visit by inviting the critic, Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who became a conservative cause célèbre when she refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“I didn’t know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a whole publicity out of it,” Pope Francis said, according to Mr. Cruz.
“And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio,” Mr. Cruz recalled the pope saying.
Now, three years later, Archbishop Viganò appears to be trying to return the favor.
Known for his short temper and ambition, Archbishop Viganò has clashed with superiors who stunted his ascent in the church and has played a key role in some of the most stunning Vatican scandals of recent times.

While Archbishop Viganò, who was once criticized by church traditionalists as overly pragmatic, has aligned himself with a small but influential group of church traditionalists who have spent years seeking to stop Francis, many of his critics think his personal grudges are central to his motivations.
After one church leader shipped him out of the Vatican to America, thwarting his hopes of receiving a scarlet cardinal’s hat, Archbishop Viganò’s private 2011 memos — many of them deeply unflattering to the leader responsible for his ouster from Rome — were leaked and splashed around the globe.
Supporters of Archbishop Viganò, who did not return a request for comment, bristle at the notion that his letter calling on the pope to resign represents the fury of a disgruntled excellency. They portray him as principled and shocked by what he sees as the destruction of the church he loves.

Mr. Tosatti said the archbishop had explained to him that, as a bishop, he felt a deep responsibility to the church and that, as a 77-year-old man, he wanted to clear his conscience for when his moment came. But he said the archbishop was also infuriated by a recent article in the Italian press sympathetic to Pope Francis and critical of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI — and felt he needed to retaliate.
Archbishop Viganò is well versed in Vatican infighting. In 1998, he became a central official in the Vatican’s powerful office of the secretary of state. In the letter, he writes that his responsibilities included overseeing ambassadors out in the world, but also the “examination of delicate cases, including those regarding cardinals and bishops.”
It was then he says he first learned of the abuses committed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the American Catholic leader whose history he says Pope Francis knew about for years — and covered up.
In 2009, Archbishop Viganò, then a bishop, was moved to another job in the Vatican with less influence over policy but with power over some of its revenue.
Known as parsimonious, he turned Vatican City’s deficit into a surplus. But his hard management style prompted complaints, and anonymous emails alleging that he was inappropriately promoting the career of his nephew began making the rounds in the Vatican. His style and rigor on vetting Vatican contracts also bothered some leaders, including Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and an anonymous report in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale claimed he had designs on the Vatican’s security services.
Cardinal Bertone, who Archbishop Viganò writes in the letter “notoriously favored promoting homosexuals,” banished him to the United States.
Throughout his power struggle, Archbishop Viganò had been writing urgent appeals to Benedict to stay in the Vatican.

He said he needed to stay because his brother, a Jesuit biblical scholar, was sick and needed care, and he accused Cardinal Bertone of breaking his promise to promote him to the rank of cardinal.
In 2012, when he was already in the United States as nuncio, or ambassador, the letters started appearing in leaks eventually pinned on the pope’s butler. The scandal consumed the Vatican and prompted intense blowback.
But Archbishop Viganò’s brother, Lorenzo Viganò, told Italian journalists that his brother “lied” to Benedict that he had to remain in Rome “because he had to take care of me, sick.” To the contrary, he said he had lived in Chicago and was fine and hadn’t talked to his brother in years over an inheritance dispute.

Archbishop Viganò maintained his position as ambassador in the United States after the election of Francis. But in the letter published Sunday, he alleged that the former Cardinal McCarrick “orchestrated” the selection of bishops blinded by a gay ideology that he blames for the sex abuse crisis.
Yet Archbishop Viganò has been accused of covering up misconduct as well. According to documents disclosed as part of a criminal investigation into the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, he ordered bishops in April 2014 to quash an investigation into accusations that Archbishop John Nienstedt engaged in sexual misconduct with adult men and adult seminarians.
Archbishop Viganò, anticipating the criticism, gave Mr. Tosatti a statement denying those reports.
After angering Francis during the Kim Davis episode, Archbishop Viganò was called back to Rome to explain himself. In a sign of his desire to move back permanently, he refused to give up his Vatican apartment. Reports in the Italian media this week asserted that after removing Archbishop Viganò from his position, Pope Francis also kicked him out of his Vatican apartment.

But Archbishop Viganò returned from his Milan home often enough, joining forces with traditionalists antagonistic to Pope Francis.
And he returned this summer to get working on the letter.
About a month ago, Mr. Tosatti said he received a call from the archbishop asking if he could meet with him in a discreet place. Archbishop Viganò told the reporter his story, but said he wasn’t ready to go on the record.
But when news of decades of widespread clerical abuse in Pennsylvania broke, Mr. Tosatti urged the archbishop to tell his story. On Aug. 22, he returned, this time with a written statement.
Mr. Tosatti said that he saw no documents or other evidence, and after three hours, they finished.
The archbishop asked Mr. Tosatti if he knew anyone who could publish it in English and Spanish. Mr. Tosatti sent the letter to the National Catholic Register, which is owned by a company that runs several conservative Catholic platforms often critical of Francis.
“They are all tied,” said Mr. Tosatti, who said that he alone helped draft and distribute the letter.
Its publication was delayed, not so that it would blow up Francis’ trip to Ireland over the weekend amid the sexual abuse crisis, he said, but so that it could be translated.
After they were done writing it, Mr. Tosatti said he accompanied Archbishop Viganò to the door and bowed to kiss his ring, only to see the hand pull back.

Mr. Tosatti explained that it wasn’t a personal respect he wanted to show, but respect for his office and authority.
“It’s not for you,” Mr. Tosatti recalled telling him as tears welled in the archbishop’s eyes. “It’s for the role you have.”
The archbishop told him, “Now that I have finished, I can leave, and leave Rome too,” according to Mr. Tosatti.
“Where will you go?” Mr. Tosatti recalled asking.
“I will not tell you so that when they ask you, you will not have to lie — and I will shut off my phone,” the archbishop said, according to the reporter, who said that both men suspected the Vatican of tapping their phones.

***
Severe jolt and aftershocks hit Angelenos on Tuesday 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquakesa-earthquake-44-quake-strikes-near-la-verne-calif-q8p3-story.html
'It was like if somebody had grabbed' the house: 4.4 quake rattles Southland
***
(August 31)
Whew!  The first Muslim in Congress, but an apparent modernist versus a fundamentalist, hit with #MeToo charges.  Crazy world?  Is he really charged with anything more than a “messy breakup.”  Depends on point of view? “He said, she said” again?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/us/keith-elllison-karen-monahan.html?emc=edit_th_180831&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980831
A Broken Relationship and Accusations of Emotional Abuse: The Case of Keith Ellison
MINNEAPOLIS — When Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress in 2006, it made him an instant national star: a charismatic young black leader who was now a symbol of the Democratic Party’s commitment to diversity and equal rights.
Back home in Minneapolis, Mr. Ellison was revered in a close-knit circle of progressive activists. He began a romantic relationship with one of them, an environmental organizer named Karen Monahan, who later moved in with him in 2015.
Ms. Monahan posted happy photos on social media of the two of them hiking, traveling and even attending a party at the White House with President Barack Obama and the first lady.
Behind the scenes, though, their relationship was rocky. Ms. Monahan often accused Mr. Ellison of cheating on her, leading to blowout arguments, according to more than a dozen people who knew the couple.

Now, as Mr. Ellison runs for attorney general in Minnesota, Ms. Monahan has accused her former boyfriend of emotional abuse and says he once shouted profanities at her, while trying to drag her off a bed.
Mr. Ellison denies abusing Ms. Monahan and said in a statement after the allegations emerged that he cares “deeply for her well-being.” Democratic Party leaders in Minnesota have asked a lawyer to look into Ms. Monahan’s allegations, but continue to support Mr. Ellison’s bid to become attorney general.

The questions around Mr. Ellison come eight months after Senator Al Franken, another popular progressive leader in Minnesota, resigned amid allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances. Now, Mr. Ellison, a high-profile leader on the left, is fighting for his reputation and facing a tough campaign with an opponent using the abuse allegations against him.

Ms. Monahan’s accusations represent a potentially new chapter in the #MeToo movement in which the allegations against a public figure are not primarily about sexual violence or harassment, but emotional abuse. But the allegations against Mr. Ellison, who declined a request for an interview through a spokesman, are turning into a test among many liberals for where to draw the line between a messy relationship and an emotionally abusive one, and some say they aren’t sure where it is.
“I want to make sure that women are believed,” said Betsy Hodges, a former mayor of Minneapolis who identifies as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and who used to see Mr. Ellison, 55, and Ms. Monahan, 44, together at political events. “I also want to make sure that we follow a process when we evaluate. A bad breakup is not the same thing as abuse.”  … …

***
It seems unlikely a “Fourth Reich” will rise in Germany, but the tensions between nations/nationalism and globalism/mass migrations seems to exacerbate the rise of the need for the global Antichrist —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/world/europe/germany-neo-nazi-protests-chemnitz.html?emc=edit_th_180831&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980831
Mob Protests in Germany Show New Strength of the Far Right
CHEMNITZ, Germany — Waving German flags, with some flashing Nazi salutes, the angry mob made its way through the streets, chasing after dark-skinned bystanders as police officers, vastly outnumbered, were too afraid to intervene.  A Syrian refugee and father of two, Anas al-Nahlawie, watched horrified from a friend’s fourth-floor balcony. They were hunting in packs for immigrants just like him, he said. “Like wolves.”
For a few perilous hours over two days this week, the mob owned the streets of Chemnitz, where anger exploded after word spread that an Iraqi and a Syrian asylum seeker were suspected in a knife attack that killed a German man early Sunday.
Chemnitz, a city of some 250,000 in eastern Germany, has a history of neo-Nazi protests. Usually they draw a few hundred from the fringes of society — and far larger counter-demonstrations, city officials say. The crowd this time was 8,000-strong. Led by several hundred identifiable neo-Nazis, it appeared to be joined by thousands of ordinary citizens. More marches are planned Saturday.

The city had never seen anything like this — and, to some degree, neither had post-World War II Germany. The rampage now stands as a high-water mark in the outpouring of anti-immigrant hatred that has swelled as Germany struggles to absorb the nearly one million asylum seekers who arrived in the country after Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to open the borders in 2015.
That decision sharply divided Germany, with critics soon arguing that Ms. Merkel’s administration had lost control of the situation. Three years later, what the government is struggling to control is an anti-immigrant backlash.
Neo-Nazis are growing bolder and stronger, and they are better organized, officials and sociologists say. The far-right Alternative for Germany party is a growing power in Parliament — another shock to the system — and has started to normalize angry sentiments about immigrants that before would not have been uttered aloud, bringing them into the mainstream.
In the face of this newly assertive far right, Chemnitz has become a test of state authority. Some say it has even become a test of Germany’s postwar democracy. … …

***
(September 1)
Of local interest to us here in Vermont —  I was driving over a freeway overpass near the airport when a companion noticed the entrance lane on I-89 South was closed by a state trooper’s car, and that probable local newsmen with video cameras were on the berm at the center of the bridge.  We wondered if there had been some kind of major accident of incident, but my companion went to her phone, and we soon found that the Vice President was at hand.  This was virtually unannounced locally unless at the last moment.  Once, exploring gravel backroads in Vermont, long ago, I stumbled on the Coolidge farm house, a very modest and plain place that, as I recall, had some small sign that alerted me to what it was.  This August 31 event makes me now want to know a little more about Calvin Coolidge, so off to wikipedia for me at the least.  It is a privilege to add prayer cover to our present Christ-confessing Vice President while he ventures into this exceedingly “blue state.”  As soon as the word hit the internet, locals began to call for protests.  If his mission is merely R&R and a personal interest, may God grant him rest over this Labor Day Weekend.  If he seeks any other knowledge that will assist him in his ministering life, may he find it.  May God keep and rest him and his wife, Karen, and the entourage while they are here.  Amen.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/vermont/articles/2018-08-31/vice-president-pence-heads-to-vermont-for-the-weekend
Vice President Pence Heads to Vermont for the Weekend
Vice President Mike Pence is making a weekend getaway to Vermont.  Aug. 31, 2018, at 6:00 p.m.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is making a weekend getaway to Vermont and visiting a museum dedicated to former President Calvin Coolidge.
His office said Friday that Pence planned to spend the Labor Day weekend in the state with his family. Shortly after arriving, Pence made an unannounced visit to Plymouth Notch, Vermont, to visit Coolidge's museum.
Pence is an admirer of Coolidge, a former vice president and Massachusetts governor, and keeps a portrait of Coolidge in his office.
The vice president has no public events scheduled during the weekend.
Air Force Two landed at the Burlington International Airport Friday afternoon, hours after the vice president and his wife Karen honored the late Sen. John McCain in the Capitol Rotunda. … …
Local Media Immediately strikes a critical sub-headline?
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/vice-president-mike-pence-spending-labor-day-weekend-in-vermont/22827267
Vice President Mike Pence spending Labor Day weekend in Vermont
Being in Vermont means the Vice President will not represent the Trump Administration at any services Saturday for the late Arizona Senator, who died last Saturday night.

***
Causes for riot over a war 150 years back?
https://www.thecollegefix.com/pepper-spray-arrests-obscenities-heated-unc-silent-sam-protest-engulfs-campus/
Pepper spray, arrests, obscenities: Heated UNC Silent Sam protest engulfs campus
CHAPEL HILL, NC — Chants of “Cops and Klan go hand in hand,” “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” and “No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA” echoed through UNC Chapel Hill’s McCorkle Place on Thursday night as a large and rowdy group of protesters converged to stand against talk of returning the recently toppled “Silent Sam” statue to its place on campus.
In contrast, a group of approximately 40 to 50 demonstrators with Confederate flags and holding signs that read “Save our monuments, preserve our history” also gathered to call for the reinstallation of the monument to the Confederate soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War.
The pro-statue folks drew the ire of counter-protesters, the latter of whom were responsible for the lion’s share of yelling, dancing and chanting throughout the night. They numbered between 200 and 250.
Initially, the pro-statue group was limited to just two men, who the crowd mocked. The crowd of anti-statue protesters screamed at the men and accused them of being Nazis and racists. Police officers intervened to usher the men into the designated protest areas around the statue.
At around 8:00 p.m., the two men were joined by a larger group numbering closer to 40.
The pro-statue group then unveiled a large Confederate flag and took a group photo. For the most part, they did not interact with their counter-protesters.
The anti-Silent Sam crowd was divided into two halves. As one half jeered at the pro-statue demonstrators, the others danced along to loud music, as the protest was initially billed as a “Dance Party and Speakout.” … …

***
A Divine Comment? Laud or Omen? Both? Neither?  Matt Drudge headlines:  “Rain suddenly falls as McCain casket carried into Capitol”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/31/politics/john-mccain-us-capitol-lie-in-state/index.html
McCain honored as his body lies in state at the US Capitol
(excerpt):  On Friday, McCain came home to the Senate one last time, becoming only the 31st person to lie in state in the US Capitol, a rare honor reserved for government officials and military officers. While minutes before the sun had shone over the dome, as McCain, carried by an honor guard, ascended the steps, the clouds opened and rain poured down.

***
An unwanted prophetic Christian surprise at the Aretha Franklin funeral —
(Check the link for a fuller report of the exhortation.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/old-school-eulogy-aretha-franklin-funeral-ignites-wrath-005834257.html
Old-school eulogy at Aretha Franklin funeral ignites wrath

DETROIT (AP) -- A fiery, old-school eulogist at the funeral of Aretha Franklin fell flat for many in the crowd and prompted a social media uproar when he declared "black America has lost its soul," black women are incapable of raising sons alone and the Black Lives Matter movement is unfounded in the face of black-on-black crime.
And that was just 26 minutes into the nearly 50 minutes of words provided by the Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta as Franklin's marathon funeral wound down Friday. … …

***
“Captain Kirk,” William Shatner, at 87 warns of Virtual Reality psychosis-inducing nightmares arriving by tech.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/aug/31/a-screaming-nightmare-william-shatner-boldly-goes-into-vr
'Screaming nightmare': William Shatner boldly goes into VR
Star Trek’s Captain Kirk voices concerns about virtual reality after simulating a walk on Mars
As Captain Kirk in Star Trek, William Shatner took us to places “where no man has gone before”, with stories that foreshadowed the invention of the mobile phone and tablet computers. Now, in real life, the actor is exploring virtual reality – but he wants the entertainment industry to be aware of its potential detrimental impact on vulnerable minds. Shatner told the Guardian: “The use of technology to affect our minds is so powerful now that we need to be on guard in the future.”He is involved with Ziva Dynamics, a VR company, through which he has experienced “nightmarish footage” involving strange creatures that creep up on the user.
“It’s so real: it’s the stuff of nightmares … We’ve got to be really careful because you could put somebody into a psychosis,” he said. … …

***

From Hal Lindsey’s most recent newsletter on the increasing plague of earthquakes —

…Just this past month, in the span of one week, the earth experienced three major earthquakes. A 7.3 magnitude quake shook parts of South America and the Caribbean, off Venezuela. Later, a 7.1 quake hit Peru. 
Then, an 8.2 struck in the South Pacific near Fiji. That one fits the definition of "superquake." 
Scientists can only proffer estimates of the power and magnitude of earthquakes that occurred prior to the 20th century. However, they have fairly high confidence in their estimates going back about 500 years. 
And what they tell us is eye-opening. Especially when viewed in the light of Jesus's warnings about the increase in frequency and intensity of earthquakes worldwide. 
Consider this: Scientists estimate that from the years 1500 to 2000, there were 30 earthquakes of 8.5 magnitude or greater. In this young century, we've already had six of these enormous quakes. 
Think about that. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, in five hundred years the earth suffered 30 of these monster quakes. And in just the last 17 years (2001-2018), we've already had six! … …

*** *** ***

“Neither is there salvation in any other: 
for there is none other name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:12)

******************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

August 26

Saints,

Is this blog the earthquake issue?  Is the planet wanting to shake us off? …to “vomit out its inhabitants” as the Scriptures say (Lev. 18:25)? See the several reports below of this week alone.  Grief at Nature’s punishments, fire, flood, earthquake, famine, climate change is abundant.  May God keep his own and bring many more to repentance.  it seems the End of this Age hangs at the very door.

***

The Week —
 (August 20)
Hypocrisies between the genders?  …some self-proclaimed leaders-of-the-lynch-mob just looking for the spotlight end up spotted by it?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/asia-argento-paid-sexual-assault-accuser-report-1135872
Asia Argento Paid Off Sexual Assault Accuser (Report)
Argento was one of the first and most vocal accusers of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Asia Argento, the Italian actress who was one of the first to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, secretly paid off a young male actor accusing her of sexual misconduct in the months after her revelations about the disgraced movie mogul. 
According to a report in The New York Times, Argento paid former child actor Jimmy Bennett $380,000. Bennett claims that in 2013, a then 37-year-old Argento assaulted him in a California hotel only two months past his 17th birthday. The age of consent in California is 18. … …

***
Microchipping set to go mainstream?
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611884/this-company-embeds-microchips-in-its-employees-and-they-love-it/
This company embeds microchips in its employees, and they love it
When Patrick McMullan wants a Diet Dr Pepper while he’s at work, he pays for it with a wave of his hand. McMullan has a microchip implanted between his thumb and forefinger, and the vending machine immediately deducts money from his account. At his office, he’s one of dozens of employees who have been doing likewise for a year now.  
McMullan is the president of Three Square Market, a technology company that provides self-service mini-markets to hospitals, hotels, and company break rooms. Last August, he became one of roughly 50 employees at its headquarters in River Falls, Wisconsin, who volunteered to have a chip injected into their hand. The idea came about in early 2017, he says, when he was on a business trip to Sweden—a country where some people are getting subcutaneous microchips to do things like enter secure buildings or book train tickets. It’s one of very few places where chip implants, which have been around for quite a while, have taken off in some fashion. … …

***
Foot-in-Mouth Disease? — Cuomo re-tries / re-words Trump attacks after saying, “America is not so great.”  Paul exhorts us to pray for our leaders — all of them.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ny-gov-cuomo-trump-fooled-country-not-york-184653263.html
Cuomo says Trump fools the country, but not New York
	
		NEW YORK (AP) — In a searing speech from the pulpit of a black church, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a Brooklyn congregation on Sunday that Donald Trump is a "slick salesman" who fooled many people in this country, but the Democrat said the Republican president hasn't fooled New Yorkers.
		Cuomo spoke at Brooklyn's First Baptist Church of Crown Heights after a week of criticism for saying America "was never that great" during a bill signing. New York Republicans have demanded he apologize, and Trump tweeted that Cuomo was having a "total meltdown."
		The governor seemed to counter what many observers considered a political blunder — a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" signature line that Cuomo later acknowledged was "inartful" on his part.
		This time, he offered a loftier exhortation: "Mr. President, you are not taking this nation back in time, because we believe our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. And we will bring the light, and we will overcome, and we will vindicate this nation's better angels together."
		Cuomo told the congregation that New York's Statue of Liberty is a symbol of America's acceptance of people of all races, beliefs, languages and lifestyles. By contrast, he said, the wall Trump wants built along the border with Mexico represents rejection of those who are different.
		The rest of Cuomo's speech was peppered with a point-by-point attack on the policies, language and behavior of a president who lost his home state in the 2016 election. … …
		
		***
(August 21)
Says the Lord Himself of the End of the Age…”earthquakes in diverse places” (Matt. 24:7).  Meanings of “diverse” in context: across a spectrum, varied, many, unusually so
		
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-20/watch-out-california-53-major-earthquakes-just-hit-ring-fire-24-hour-period
Watch Out California! 53 Major Earthquakes Just Hit The Ring Of Fire In A 24 Hour Period
Is something unusual starting to happen to the crust of our planet? 
The USGS defines any earthquake of at least magnitude 4.5 as “significant”, and there were 53 earthquakes that met that criteria along the Ring of Fire on Sunday alone. … …
		***
		
Winston’s job, the protagonist of Orwell’s 1984, was to continually rewrite “truth” as the political situation changed, expunging history.  His governmental department was called “The Ministry of Truth.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sleight-at-the-museum-china-rewrites-history-to-boost-xi-1534766405
China’s Museums Rewrite History to Boost Xi
SHENZHEN, China—When a museum paying tribute to China’s economic reforms opened here in December, visitors were welcomed by a panoramic sculpture depicting a local visit by Deng Xiaoping, hailed in Communist Party history for launching the country’s rise to prosperity.
Then in early June, the museum was closed for what it called “upgrading.” When it reopened in August, the sculpture was gone, replaced by video screens showing local development and a beige wall adorned with a quote from President Xi Jinping.
China’s Communist Party is celebrating the 40th anniversary of policy overhauls, widely credited to Deng, that transformed an impoverished country into the world’s second-largest economy. Yet much of the state-backed fanfare has focused instead on Mr. Xi, playing up his economic credentials while diluting Deng’s prominence in party lore.

“This is mythmaking in action,” said Julian Gewirtz, a historian at Harvard University who has studied Chinese economic reforms. In shaping narratives about China’s future, Mr. Xi is “claiming greater authorship over China’s past.” … …

***

Humanity choosing to sink into the sewers of Sodom — Burning Man — resurging paganism parties on — some problems arise along the way

https://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts/burning-man/2018/08/20/burning-man-me-too-consent-sexual-assault-burner-playa/876400002/
#MeToo at Burning Man: The cracks in consent culture on playa

***

When the spirit of Sodom is loosed on a culture, does it have a tenacious and insatiable grasp? Supreme Court-delivered Colorado baker now under a fresh attack by way of new sodomite semantics.  God save him!

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2490
Colorado Civil Rights Commission Goes After Christian Baker..Again!

***
Three Major Allies of Ezekiel’s Upcoming War Schedule Meetings —

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2492
Echos Of Ezekiel 38 - Tehran To Plot Strategy With Russia & Turkey
Russia's presidential office has announced that President Vladimir Putin will fly to Tehran in early September for a summit meeting with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts.

***
(Tuesday, August 21, 9:59 p.m. GMT; 5:59 p.m Eastern Daylight Time)
Venezuela, under a famine and economic collapse of socialist dictatorship, causing citizens to flee by any means, now faces the aftermath of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake —
http://news.trust.org/item/20180821215949-h0f9p
Magnitude 7.3 quake hits northern Venezuela coast -USGS
(Recasts with upgraded magnitude, adds tsunami waves)
Aug 21 (Reuters) - A major earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck the northern coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and shook buildings as far away as the capital, Caracas, witnesses said.
The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.7 and then 7.0, was centered near the town of Carupano.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Center said the quake, which was fairly deep, could cause small tsunami waves along the coast near the epicenter, 23 miles (37 km) southwest of the town of Carupano.
A magnitude 7.3 quake is considered major and is capable of causing widespread, heavy damage, but the quake was 76.5 miles (123.11 km) deep, which would have dampened the shaking. … …

(August 22, 5:25 a.m. followup)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6084477/Buildings-evacuated-powerful-7-3-magnitude-earthquake-hits-coast-Venezuela.html
Venezuela hit by worst earthquake since 1900 as 7.3 magnitude tremors which spread from Caribbean to Caracas pour even MORE misery on cash-strapped country
	•	Earthquake has shaken eastern Venezuela, causing buildings to be evacuated  
	•	Buildings were evacuated in the country's capital Caracas amid fears of collapse
	•	The quake was measured 7.3 magnitude with an epicenter 13 miles south of Irapa

Venezuela was hit by its most powerful earthquake since 1900 on Tuesday night adding to the turmoil wreaked by the country's economic crisis.
Cars were flattened by collapsing walls, supermarket shelves completely wiped out and gaping holes in the ground emerged all over the country as the tremors ripped through its major cities. … …

***
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Tim. 2:1-2)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/21/trump-cohen-manafort-impeachment-legal-791009
‘It’s the only excuse they’ll need’: Legal blows fuel impeachment fears
The conviction of Trump’s former campaign chairman, guilty plea of his former personal lawyer and indictment of a leading congressional supporter raise Trump’s risks.
President Donald Trump and his allies were armed with a quick response to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s guilty verdict – it had nothing to do with Russian collusion, and nothing to do with Trump.
But Michael Cohen’s simultaneous bombshell guilty plea on Tuesday, in which he admitted paying hush money to women just before the 2016 election at Trump’s direction, poses a greater risk to the president.“The verdict in the Manafort trial isn’t nearly as worrisome to me as the Cohen agreement and the Cohen statement,” said former Trump adviser Michael Caputo. “It’s probably the worst thing so far in this whole investigation stage of the presidency.”One Republican lawyer close to the White House worried that Cohen – with his unique access to Trump’s history of business dealings and scandalous personal entanglements – could ultimately prove more damaging to Trump, and give Democrats fodder for impeachment if they take the House in November. “It’s the only excuse they’ll need,” the lawyer said. “And believe me, they won’t need much of an excuse.” … …

***
(Wednesday afternoon, August 22)
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7073186/oregon-earthquake-portland-bandon-lates/
EARTHQUAKE TERROR Oregon earthquake – Massive 6.3 magnitude tremor rocks US West Coast sparking fears ‘the Big One’ WILL hit America
The quake registered at a depth of six miles and 188 miles off the coast of Oregon

A HUGE 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon on America's West Coast today.
The quake, which registered 188 miles from the coastal city of Bandon, has sparked fears the so-called "Big One" could hit California any time now.
It was recorded at a depth of around six miles but no tsunami warning has yet been issued, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The shake followed an intense week of seismic activity in which the deadly Ring of Fire was rocked by 70 quakes in just 48 hours.
A cluster of 16 "significant" movements, all above magnitude 4.5, hit on Monday following 53 that shook the region along the disaster zone on Sunday.
They rattled Indonesia, Bolivia, Japan and Fiji but didn't reach the western coast of the US, which sits on the horseshoe-shaped Ring of Fire fault line. … …

***
(August 23)
Earthquake Update —

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1006861/pacific-ring-of-fire-earthquake-venezuela-oregon-vanuatu-trinidad-tobago
Ring of Fire MAP: Earthquake BLITZ hits Pacific triangulation points - MEGAQUAKE fears
THE PACIFIC Ring of Fire has been hit by a series of strong earthquakes with a triangle area formed by Oregon, Vanuatu and Venezuela rocked in the past 24 hours.

More than 70 earthquakes have rattled the Ring of Fire, a huge swathe of geologically active tectonic plates stretching from South America to Australia via the western United States and East Asia, in the past three days. … …

***
Food for thought: Could what the evolutionary model proposes be instead explained by the genetic manipulations of humans by the hybridizing Nephilim and their experiments?  Are the “long ages models” merely bilgewater to hide the truth of the antediluvian (pre-Flood) world?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/science/neanderthals-denisovans-hybrid.html
A Blended Family: Her Mother Was Neanderthal, Her Father Something Else Entirely
Genetic analysis of bones discovered in a Siberian cave hint that the prehistoric world may have been filled with “hybrid” humans.
In a limestone cave nestled high above the Anuy River in Siberia, scientists have discovered the fossil of an extraordinary human hybrid.
The 90,000-year-old bone fragment came from a female whose mother was Neanderthal, according to an analysis of DNA discovered inside it. But her father was not: He belonged to another branch of ancient humanity known as the Denisovans.
Scientists have been recovering genomes from ancient human fossils for just over a decade. Now, with the discovery of a Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid, the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago is coming into remarkable new focus: home to a marvelous range of human diversity.
In 2010, researchers working in the Siberian cave, called Denisova, announced they had found DNA from a scrap of bone representing an unknown group of humans. Subsequent discoveries in the cave confirmed that the Denisovans were a lineage distinct from modern humans. … …
See also: Denisovans  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan
and…
https://newatlas.com/neanderthal-denisovan-hybrid/56022/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-08-23%20142842%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-08-23%20143928%20Injectable%20hydrogel%20could%20keep%20root%20canals%20from%20killing%20teeth&utm_content=2018-08-23%20142842%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-08-23%20143928%20Injectable%20hydrogel%20could%20keep%20root%20canals%20from%20killing%20teeth+CID_c0d3fbf0718a93a02a214a1056586b79&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Genome study of cave bones reveals early human hybrid
(…going a little further with media paranoia —  Wouldn’t it be extremely politically incorrect to put the name hybrid on today’s children of mixed ethnicities?  Is someone prepping us for further new revelations of past, present, future Nephilim experiments by “breaking in” the word “hybrid” via advancing “science” media jargon?)
***
(August 24)
Aldhous Huxley’s “doors of perception” and “gates of heaven and hell” swing open again in FDA approval for testing of psychedelic “cures”.  Psychedelics are strong tools of what the Bible calls sorcery and witchcraft (Gk. Pharmakeia).  God forbids their use, and the only spiritual kingdom they open is the fallen one.   “The just shall live by faith” (not “fix” depression with episodes of tripping).

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/magic-mushrooms-to-treat-depression-this-peter-thiel-backed-startup-just-got-fda-okay-to-begin-trials
Magic mushrooms to treat depression? This Peter Thiel-backed startup just got FDA okay to begin trials
The Food and Drug Administration has greenlighted the use of the psychedelic ingredient in “magic” mushrooms for a drug trial to treat depression.
The federal agency gave the U.S. approval to London-based life sciences startup called Compass Pathways that launched in 2016 under the backing of billionaire Peter Thiel.
Regulatory approvals for the trial have already been given in the U.K., the Netherlands and Canada.
The trial is expected to be a phase IIB dose-ranging study involving 216 patients in 12 to 15 research sites across Europe and North America. The tests will begin in the U.K. later this month and sites in other countries will kick off as soon as regulatory approvals are received. … …

***
Profiling wars between left and right heat up as SPLC works it “hate groups” list to kill conservative donations online—
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/08/23/david-horowitz-visa-mastercard-cut-off-payments-to-my-think-tank-based-on-splc-hate-group-label/
David Horowitz: Visa, Mastercard Cut Off Payments to My Think Tank Based on SPLC ‘Hate Group’ Label
The David Horowitz Freedom Center has had their donation processing system blocked by Visa and Mastercard allegedly following a campaign by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Visa has since contacted Breitbart News to deny involvement in the blacklisting of the Freedom Center.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center stated in a recent email that its ability to accept donations by credit card has been disabled by both Visa and Mastercard following a campaign by the SPLC to label the Freedom Center as a hate group. This situation comes shortly after Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch was forced off the funding platform Patreon following pressure from Mastercard.
The Freedom Center is the next target of the SPLC, and they are using Mastercard and Visa again in their attempt to shut down conservative voices. In an email sent to supporters, Horowitz outlined how the SPLC had convinced Mastercard and Visa to block the Freedom Center from receiving payments and donations via credit card. In the email, Horowitz requested that supporters send donations via check to a P.O. Box. … …

***
Is the RCC model of a priesthood based on the Old Testament with altars, daily sacrifices, clerical gear and clothing and ornate paraphernalia combined with its non-Old or New Testament insistence on priest celibacy an insurmountable obstacle to elimination of pedophilia and other sodomite practices and ordinary failures in chastity?  History to date indicates this is an obvious assessment.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/08/17/roman-catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandals-struggle/1024427002/
Why the Roman Catholic Church still struggles with sexual abuse scandals
In an internal diocese memo from Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania, a priest admitted to being “aroused” while tutoring a boy, hugging him and sharing sexually suggestive text messages with multiple boys.
The priest’s bishop admonished him to “cease and desist,” but Catholic Church leaders didn’t pass that information along to authorities until six years later – and only then in response to a grand jury subpoena. 
The Rev. David Poulson resigned from the diocese this past February, three months before he was charged with sexually abusing two boys.
Poulson’s case is an example of how abuse and cover-up continue to plague the Catholic Church, even after the scandal first exploded into the national consciousness 16 years ago in Boston. Since then, the church has vowed to reform and paid out billions of dollars of parishioners' tithes to victims. … …

***
(August 25)
A Week of Earthquakes — 206 at 4.0 or above worldwide this week —  See the global layout here.

https://www.642weather.com/weather/earthquakes-world.php

Earthquakes Worldwide 4.0+ Last 7 Days

***
Unbelieving pharisees still expecting the first coming of Messiah, anticipate that earthquakes, even humanly created earthquakes, may trigger the downfall of the Dome of the Rock, preparing the way for the Temple to be rebuilt.  This Temple will serve as “The Temple of Antichrist” where he will commit “the Abomination of Desolation” spoken of by both Jesus and by Daniel the Prophet, the trigger for Armageddon and the Second Coming 3 1/2 years later.   (Unlike the specific, announced timing of the Second Coming, though it will still catch the world by surprise, the Rapture of the Church is ever imminent, but He will make certain his faithful servants hear the call or even we would fall asleep in the tiresome agonies of life, Matthew 25:5-6.)
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/111518/earthquakes-eclipses-divine-signs/
A Week of Earthquakes, Eclipses, and Other Divine Signs
Several rabbis are pointing to last week’s rare lunar eclipse and continued earthquakes as a divine pre-Messianic wake-up call. In fact, it isn’t only the rabbis. Even Arab sources are labeling the recent earthquakes as part of the end-of-days conflict centered around Jerusalem. … …

***
(August 26)
Feisty, brusque, profane at times, McCain of later days did acknowledge God and give Him thanks for his life.  This should give us hope for him and for ourselves. RIP.
(He announced stopping medical treatment Friday and is gone quickly by Saturday afternoon.)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sen-john-mccain-independent-voice-gop-establishment-dies-81-n790971
Sen. John McCain, independent voice of the GOP establishment, dies at 81
John McCain, who shed a playboy image in his youth to become a fighter pilot, revered prisoner of war and both an independent voice in the Republican Party and its 2008 presidential nominee, died on Saturday, little more than a year after he was told he had brain cancer. He was 81.
McCain’s office said in a statement "Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28 p.m. on August 25, 2018." He announced on July 19, 2017, that he had been diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor. On Friday his family announced he was discontinuing treatment.
"With the Senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years," McCain's office said in the statement.
His daughter, Meghan McCain, said in a statement that "I was with my father at his end, as he was with me at my beginning."
"All that I am is thanks to him. Now that he is gone, the task of my lifetime is to live up to his example, his expectations, and his love,” she said. … …
enator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family," McCain's office said in a statement.
***
Russia and China will be among the prominent, initial allies to approach the battlefields of Armageddon.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-military-joining-russians-nuclear-war-games/
Chinese Military Joining Russians for Nuclear War Games
Pentagon closely watching Beijing, Moscow forces in upcoming Vostok-18 exercise
Russia and China will hold a large-scale military exercise next month that will include simulated nuclear weapons attacks, according to American defense officials.
The People's Liberation Army will send more than 3,200 troops, 900 pieces of military equipment, and 30 aircraft to Russia for the exercise known as Vostok-18, or East-18, the Chinese Defense Ministry said, noting the exercises will involve practicing maneuver defense, live firing of weapons, and counterattack.
"We urge Russia to take steps to share information regarding its exercises and operations in Europe to clearly convey its intentions and minimize and potential misunderstanding," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said when asked about Vostok-18. … …

***
Catholicism and Ireland, old friends no longer?
https://www.chron.com/news/article/In-Ireland-pope-finds-a-church-in-tatters-13182902.php
In Ireland, pope finds a church in tatters
Country changed by secularism and sex abuse crisis
Nearly 40 years since the last papal visit to Ireland, Pope Francis arrived Saturday to a transformed country where the once-mighty Roman Catholic Church is in tatters, its authority buffeted by deepening secularization and a global sex abuse crisis challenging Francis' papacy.
As recently as a few weeks ago, the pope's visit to Ireland mostly promised an awkward encounter in an estranged relationship. Since the last papal visit — by John Paul II in 1979 — Ireland has abandoned its teachings by legalizing divorce and same-sex marriage. The country now has a gay prime minister, and just a few months ago voted to lift a ban on abortion.
But recent revelations in the United States and Chile of the institutional covering-up of sexual abuse by clerics have lent sudden urgency to the pope's visit, where he will speak at the church's ninth World Meeting of Families. The issue threatens to overshadow the visit by Francis, who has struggled to grasp the enormity of the scourge throughout his papacy. … …

*** *** ***

“I am the way, the truth, and the life:
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
John 14:6

*******************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

August 19

Saints,

I labor to stand in the objective Word of God, pointing out present news that indicates the age-lasting apocalyptic tensions between the ways of this world and the ways of the Kingdom of God.  I do not often predict that such-and-such an event is an exact fulfillment in itself (but that it may show the trend), for surely, we cannot even trust the reporters and agents for accurate news in this “Information Age.”  But, I just point out the links, and sometimes the related scriptures that you may watch with me.  I try to avoid subjective feelings to keep my feet planted on the solid rock of the Word.  But, we are souls created with emotions also, and lately I can feel around me a very pressure in the air, not the oxygen and nitrogen, etc., but the emotive airs around me.  The early German psychotherapists used the phrase “weltschemrz,” the weight of the world,” and surely it does stalk us and hang heavy “in the air” these days.

Vocal artist Carole King once presented a love song in which she said, “I feel the earth move under my feet…I feel the sky come tumbling down…”  I add to that “I feel the powers moving in the air.”  We cannot be distracted by subjective feelings, but it can be an objective observation to note that they are there.

To use earthly, natural similes, this power in the air is like unto the electric presence that comes just before a downpour of rain or a thunderstorm; it is like the animals all stirring just before an earthquake; it is a grand uneasiness that hangs in the air, but these present “powers of the air” are first and foremost spiritual (Eph. 2:2), from another realm than nature, though they are affecting the souls of Man all over the planet and even affecting nature.  We know who “the prince of the powers of the air” is, even Satan himself, but we must regard the power of God steadfastly to keep our stand.  God often speaks in understatement about Himself, for there are no words adequate, no lifting up the mind of Man past a certain rather low threshold of understanding, but if we consider the Scriptures, we are allowed as much Light as we can endure from his Mighty Presence.  Our enemy, on the other hand, wants no understatement but wants drama and demonstration as he rages out his time.  He wants “power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9) so that it is his “powers of the air” that we feel afflicting the planet,  So, I was looking again at the verses of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-11 that declare 

…3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…

“What withholdeth” is God Himself, God the Holy Spirit, in the living Church.  The “letteth” and “the will let” means to restrain.  God Himself restrains these heavy atmospherics that Satan is laying against the Earth and its inhabitants.  If not, they would completely overwhelm us.  Yet God’s power is not at all taxed by the furious works of our adversary, “the Prince of the Power of the air,” and though the devil comes down with great fury, knowing his time is short (Revelation 12:12), he can do nothing without God’s allowance.  When God takes up the living saints from the Earth, along with the resurrection of the past believers, He will allow evil a much wider range, and it will bring the Earth near to the utter destruction in a short seven years until Christ will return, with us, to stop “them which destroy the earth” in Revelation 11:18, thus sparing the remainder of the mortals at the climax of Armageddon and after the widespread planetary destruction.  So, let us bear with faith, even now, these almost suffocating assaults by “the powers of the air,” for God holds the leash on them. (By the way, St. John says in I John 4, that there are many antichrists as the spirit of antichrist is already a long time in the world, and these range from great world conquerors and rulers to false pastors and prophets, but, verse 8 above frees us from trying to find and name the final man of sin, the full and final Antichrist, as he will be “revealed” only in God’s timing — so quit buying the books and listening to false teachers naming him now.)
May God strengthen us this day.

***

The Week —
 (August 13)
A Beastly Consolidation?  “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them” ?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/technology/google-facebook-dominance-hurts-ad-tech-firms-speeding-consolidation.html
Google-Facebook Dominance Hurts Ad Tech Firms, Speeding Consolidation
Online advertising companies have struggled for several years as Google and Facebook solidified their grip on digital dollars, slowing revenue for the others.
Now, many ad tech companies and their investors are throwing up their hands.
Venture capital money going into ad tech start-ups is falling sharply, helping push a wave of consolidation. Financing reached a high of $2.92 billion in 2015, but this year, it is on pace to be less than half that, according to CB Insights, a financial research firm. … …

***
Trying hard to go — “on down the rabbit hole”?  A child is also running.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article216541085.html
Vermont exec would be nation’s first transgender governor
(August 15 update):
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/14/vermont-primary-christine-hallquist-wins-democratic-primary-phil-scott-republican/991259002/

Matt Drudge headlines it:  “Trans wins in Vermont”
Vermont governor's race: Christine Hallquist, Phil Scott win primaries
Vermont Democrats made history Tuesday by nominating Christine Hallquist as the first transgender individual to be a major party candidate for governor.
Meanwhile, preliminary results showed that Gov. Phil Scott survived a challenge animated by his former Republican allies in the gun-rights movement.
The general election matchup pits Hallquist, a former utility executive who has never held statewide elected office, against Scott, a former construction company owner seeking a second term.
"I'm going to tell you why we're going to win in November," said Hallquist, holding a clipboard as she (sic) addressed a cheering crowd of supporters at the Skinny Pancake restaurant in Burlington. "Because nothing is impossible when you're on the side of justice." … …
A child was also running in this State of Progressive Entrancement…
https://www.facebook.com/ethansonneborn2018/
Ethan Sonneborn For Governor; Listed credentials, “Jr. High School Student”

***
(August 14)
Ah, hypocrisy, ever-present, for every group and cause —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/nyregion/sexual-harassment-nyu-female-professor.html
What Happens to #MeToo When a Feminist Is the Accused?

***
It is good to heal diseases, but the siren call of immortality without the sin solution will end up being hell…

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1002867/science-news-Ageing-process-REVERSED-human-cells-University-of-Exeter
ANTI-AGEING BREAKTHROUGH: Ageing process REVERSED in human cells for first time
SCIENTISTS have successfully reversed the process of ageing in cells for the first time in a move which could help beat the likes of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Many people hope to reverse the process of ageing in a bid to remain healthier and live longer or ultimately to live forever.
And now researchers have made a breakthrough.
As the body ages, it loses its ability to control how genes are regulated and they ultimately become more damaged until we ultimately die.
A gene is activated by signals from inside or outside the cell to make a molecular message known as RNA.
The decision on which type of ‘message’ is created by a group of around 300 proteins is known as “splicing factors”.
However, as we get older the amount of splicing factors the proteins are able to make steadily decreases.
Older cells are then ultimately less able to turn genes on and off to react to the environment which makes us more vulnerable to diseases which ultimately kill us off.
However, researchers have found a way to turn splicing factors back on. … …

***

India, land of millions of “gods,” inheritrix of pantheistic Babylon spews refugees running from oppression to USA via the Mexican border sieve —

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-indian-immigrants-20180813-story.html#
A growing number of California detainees are Indians crossing through Mexico to seek asylum
On a recent visit to the federal prison in Victorville, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano was caught by surprise. Of the hundreds of immigrants detained there, he learned, possibly 40% had traveled from India seeking asylum. … …

***
Turkey, of the lands in the shadow of Magog, taking the bait?  Says the Almighty, “I will put hooks into thy jaws…and bring thee forth to battle…” (see Ezekiel 38:4)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-currency-security/erdogan-vows-action-against-economic-terrorists-over-lira-plunge-idUSKBN1KY1R9
Erdogan vows action against 'economic terrorists' over lira plunge
ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused “economic terrorists” of plotting to harm Turkey by spreading false reports and said they would face the full force of the law, as authorities launched investigations of those suspected of involvement. … …

***
(August 15)
The Consolidation of Mass and Mainstream Media — The Press meets to become one giant force — Objectors will be quieted?  Will many of the People still stand to resist global brainwashing?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7014408/facebook-threatens-press-saying-work-with-us-or-end-up-in-a-hospice/
WORK WITH US OR DIE Facebook threatens Press saying: ‘Work with us or end up in a hospice’
https://www.poynter.org/news/200-newspapers-will-write-pro-journalism-editorials-will-they-also-listen
200+ newspapers will write pro-journalism editorials. Will they also listen?
On Thursday, more than 200 newspapers will publish editorials in a "coordinated response" to President Trump calling the press the "enemy of the people." Each publication will write its own editorial.

***
Not smart in the long run:  The army of 200 million marches with the Kings of the East, blood flows to the horses’s bridles.  All of the enemies of Christ are destroyed by his Second Coming:  Book of Revelation.
(A present answer for churches may be “where two or three gather in my name” with couriers-advisors between these mini-assemblies.)
CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIANITYChina rips down posters of Jesus and replaces them with President Xi and ban kids visiting Church
The country's ruling Communist party sees Christianity as a Western threat and wants to eradicate all traces of the faith from China.

excerpt: The move is part of Beijing’s “Principle for Promoting Chinese Christianity in China for the Next Five Years (2018-2022)” plan, which details how it will “Sinicize” Christianity within its borders.
Within hours of the declaration, censors moved in to eradicate Christianity.
Bibles were seized and banned, and digital versions can no longer be found online.
Only an officially approved version from the government-sanctioned open church is available.
Images of Christ have already been replaced with posters of President Xi and Christian children are no longer allowed to attend church. … …
***

It is one thing to restrain gender’s urges, even to completely abstain voluntarily, for righteousness’ sake — chastity; it is altogether something else to deny its existence — the functional end of humanity stands at the door — more Bay Area insanity?
https://www.breitbart.com/california/2018/08/14/asexual-is-new-sexual-identity-in-bay-area/
‘Asexual’ Is Hot New Sexual Identity in San Francisco Bay Area
A new sexual identity has surfaced in the Bay Area, known as “asexual.” The individuals who identify with this orientation say they do not have sexual attraction to other people.

“Some people may be interested in other genders. Some people may be interested in everyone. And some people may not be really interested in anyone,” self-described asexual May Kame Ginoza told the San Jose Mercury News in a video interview.
Ginoza, 26, described asexual as a person “who experiences little to no sexual attraction towards any gender.” She added, “I actually went through a period, especially when I was younger, where I thought, ‘you know, no one’s really was interested in boys. No one really cared about that whole sex thing. That was just a way of pretending to act adult or something, right? Because I wasn’t interested so surely no one else was. Obviously, that quickly became apparent that, that wasn’t the case. People really were interested in this whole romance and sex thing.”
She said she still searched for that sentiment, but couldn’t find it until “towards the end of high school, when I stumbled upon the asexual community… Right now, for me, asexual is what fits the best. And 10 years later it turns out that, that actually was the right choice.”

***
Early Wednesday morning CBS round up — a very full news day —
A thousand+ incidents of RCC priests as pedophile abusers and rapists, identified by secret church documents — the end results of the unbiblical celibacy requirements for those who wish to minister?  Flood disasters continue throughout the East and into the midwest.  People’s lives destroyed, houses, cars swept away; nowhere to go, our fellow citizens cry.  Fires continue in the West, another firefighter dies.  Bridge collapse kills 39 or more in Italy  (biblically reminiscent of “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” Luke 13 — the daily onslaughts of mortality for all.)  “Another” mass Walmart shooting over an argument in the checkout line, five shot. Car chase ensues; 2 policemen injured in the resulting crash.
The insanity is so pervasive that many seem no longer to notice.  The MainStreamMedia does not help when it rounds up the daily reports with a few video shots and crowd cheers at one or another sports’ game…as if, ho hum, this is all just daily life…groan one second, cheer the next.  How can it go on much longer?
***
Socialist Paradise? Even with oil supplies / revenues sufficient for all?
https://www.france24.com/en/20180814-lack-food-pushes-23mn-flee-venezuela-un
Lack of food pushes 2.3mn to flee Venezuela: UN
UNITED NATIONS (UNITED STATES) (AFP) - 
About 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their crisis-hit country mainly because of a lack of food as severe shortages of medicine has left thousands at risk, the UN spokesman said Tuesday.
The Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
"People cite the lack of food as their main reason for leaving," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. About 1.3 million Venezuelans are suffering from malnourishment. … …

***
Shades of ’90’s Sci-Fi flick with Arnold Schwarzenegger / Sharon Stone, TOTAL RECALL.  Full body scanners of moving persons, who have little knowledge of the scan in progress, in public areas for security —  The Future is Now.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/la-become-first-us-install-161917486.html
Los Angeles is first in US to install subway body scanners
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles' subway will become the first mass transit system in the U.S. to install body scanners that screen passengers for weapons and explosives, officials said Tuesday.
The deployment of the portable scanners, which project waves to do full-body screenings of passengers walking through a station without slowing them down, will happen in the coming months, said Alex Wiggins, who runs the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's law enforcement division.
The machines scan for metallic and non-metallic objects on a person's body, can detect suspicious items from 30 feet (9 meters) away and have the capability of scanning more than 2,000 passengers per hour.
"We're dealing with persistent threats to our transportation systems in our country," said Transportation Security Administration Administrator David Pekoske. "Our job is to ensure security in the transportation systems so that a terrorist incident does not happen on our watch." … …

***

Beware! Wicked workers and false prophets will come in as wolves in sheep’s clothing…even as “angels of light.”  Stay with the delivered Majority Text of the NT with 3000-5000 mss. and fragments in perfect agreement, and the Masoretic Text (confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls too) of the OT. God also gave the care of the Scriptures to the Jews and the power to faithfully preserve them.  The honest OT translations come from them, and the NT is by the Lord’s secretaries (“scribes,” Matthew 13:51-52 and many other verses) who are the Apostles and their appointed witnesses, helpers, and companions.  The Church certified the received Canon in 325 at the Council of Nicea, and this against the “tabloid christianity” of the Gnostics and other heretics using the name of Christ to forward their own fantasies and as baits for the naive.

http://midwestoutreach.org/2018/06/28/the-custom-bible-company/
Today's Update (August 15): A Custom Bible / a forward by bereancall.org

[TBC: A “Custom Bible” is defined as a translation or paraphrase of the Bible that reflects more the bias of the translator than faithfully translating the Greek and Hebrew words into another language.]

Another new custom Bible is The Passion Translation by NAR [New Apostolic Reformation] Apostle Brian Simmons. In [commentator] Holly Pivec’s "Important facts about The Passion Translation" she points out that Brian claims Jesus appeared to him and blew on him to commission Brian to write this new translation. She continues:

He says: “he breathed on me so that I would do the project, and I felt downloads coming, instantly. I received downloads. It was like, I got a chip put inside of me. I got a connection inside of me to hear him better, to understand the scriptures better and hopefully to translate.”

On this same TV program, Simmons claimed Jesus revealed to him a new chapter of the Bible. This happened when he was translated to the library of heaven where he saw more books than you can imagine. One stood out called John 22. It told about the greatest revival the world is yet to see. God promised Simmons that one day He’ll bring Simmons back to heaven and give him this book.

Alisa Childers points out in “Here’s Why Christians Should Be Concerned About The Passion Translation of the Bible” “…the sole translator of TPT, Brian Simmons, is not trained in the biblical languages, and lacks the credentials necessary to produce an accurate translation of the Bible.”

Another thing that sets TPT apart from these other single-author translations is that Simmons claims that Jesus visited him personally, took him to the library of heaven, and asked him to write the translation. He claims to have received “downloads,” and “secrets of the Hebrew language” from Jesus Himself. Simmons even admitted that he has minimal background in biblical languages and needed the Lord’s help to translate.

That is the advantage of producing a custom Bible. You don’t need to be bothered with such mundane things as knowing the original languages, and in fact, knowing the original languages would almost certainly be an impediment to your imagination, or whatever entity is downloading information to your mind. It frees you up to add new bible chapters – or at least teach others that there are unrevealed chapters which will be added as an update later. Who can deny your experience? Who can argue with your own custom Bible?  It’s a very convenient new tool to let NAR Apostles and prophets off the hook for being false prophets by simply rewording the warning Jesus gave in Matthew 7:15 and following:

Constantly be on your guard against phony prophets. They come disguised as lambs, appearing to be genuine, but on the inside, they are like wild, ravenous wolves! You can spot them by their actions, for the fruits of their character will be obvious. (TPB)

The passage in the real bible is actually a warning to be on guard for FALSE PROPHETS – which of course the NAR prophets are! The definitions of false prophets are given by Moses in Deuteronomy 13 and 18. The hearers of Jesus’ warning would have had these passages memorized. The warning has nothing to do with the so-called “fruits of one’s character.” One cannot judge a false prophet by his ungodly or bad “character,” since, as Jesus points out, they will look just like sheep!! Sheep are true believers. These false prophets would seem outwardly like Godly men, doing good works while hiding their true characters! The false prophets that Jesus warned would come would probably be carrying Bibles, claiming to do miracles, utilizing Christian lingo, acting nice and Christian-y, and maybe even casting out demons in Jesus’ name. In fact, that is what Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23:

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
﻿

***
(August 16)
A case for the X-Files?  NASA map of magnetic anomalies provided
by UFO sighter and believer, Astronaut Gordon Cooper, now deceased, leads to these strange finds —
https://www.tampabay.com/news/science/Alien-spaceship-may-lay-off-Florida-coast-says-Discovery-Channel-treasure-hunter_170882935
Alien spaceship may lay off Florida coast, says Discovery Channel treasure hunter
In a close encounter of the submerged kind, a Discovery Channel treasure hunter said he found what could be a massive extraterrestrial structure at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
Darrell Miklos, host of Discovery’s treasure hunting show Cooper’s Treasure, was chasing the trail of an English shipwreck for an episode of his show when he made the find 300 feet beneath the Bermuda Triangle.

further excerpt:  Miklos’ find, however, is a USO, an unidentified submerged object. The coral-covered structure features 15, 300-foot-long arms jutting out from a center object. Scientists on Miklos’ team said the coral could be thousands of years old. They also said coral couldn’t naturally grow in those formations.
"There’s identical formations in three different areas and they don’t look nature made, they don’t look man made, certainly nothing I’ve ever seen based on my experience and I have years of experience at doing this," Miklos said. "We’ve identified multiple different types of shipwreck material, this doesn’t match or look anything like that."
***
Our coming “robot overlords” may be cranky as a matter of design!  Headlines Matt Drudge:  “Presence of threatening humanoid improves performance…”
(“…And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15) 
(“…help you focus,” euphemism for “enslave you”?)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/being-watched-cranky-robot-might-help-you-focus
Being watched by a cranky robot might help you focus
***
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mendocino-complex-update-20180815-story.html
California's largest fire ever keeps growing
The largest fire in California history continued to grow Wednesday while firefighters worked to protect threatened communities.
As of Wednesday morning, the Ranch fire had consumed 314,925 acres and was 64% contained. It has destroyed 147 homes so far. One firefighter, Matthew Burchett, 42, of Draper City, Utah, has died battling the fire. … …

***
Is it any wonder God has told the prophets of the upcoming, rock-melting, fiery (nuclear?) demise of Damascus? (Isa. 17:1-3, Amos 1:3-5, Jer. 49:23-27)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/world/middleeast/syria-isis-assyrian-christians.html
‘There are no girls left’: Syria’s Christian Villages Hollowed Out By ISIS
While calm has returned to a Christian area of Syria ravaged by the Islamic State, the traumatized people have not, with whole villages emptied. “There are so few of us,” says a church official.

***
The Fallen Angelic Principality who oversees traffic in Opium/Opiates killed more people than guns and car accidents combined last year, some report.  It is slaughter, bloodshed, war of enormous proportion by Hell’s Reapers.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/bleak-new-estimates-in-drug-epidemic-a-record-overdose-deaths/article_614fe150-13e2-5f5e-931e-6168f513ba4a.html
Bleak new estimates in drug epidemic:  A record 72,000 overdose deaths in 2017

***
(August 17)
Big Brother’s insatiable appetite for your privacy:  Google admits phone tracking even when Location Services is set to “Off.”  Want private travel and location?  Leave phone behind.  Some “Faraday Cages” slip covers/wraps available online may help.

https://apnews.com/ef95c6a91eeb4d8e9dda9cad887bf211
APNewsBreak: Google clarifies location-tracking policy
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has revised an erroneous description on its website of how its “Location History” setting works, clarifying that it continues to track users even if they’ve disabled the setting.
The change came three days after an Associated Press investigation revealed that several Google apps and websites store user location even if users have turned off Location History. Google has not changed its location-tracking practice in that regard.
additional excerpt:  K. Shankari, a UC Berkeley graduate researcher whose findings initially alerted the AP to the issue, said Thursday the change was a “good step forward,” but added “they can make it better.” For one thing, she said, the page still makes no mention of another setting called “Web & App Activity.” Turning that setting off that would in fact stop recording location data. (ed. note: at least for the moment?)
***
According to tactics foretold in the Book of Revelation, these plans would amount to an eastern rearguard for the movement of the armies of the Kings of the East west toward the Valley of Megiddo (Armageddon), but what battles may be stirred in the interim? Governments may well not know yet what they are preparing for?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinese-bombers-likely-training-us-strikes-pentagon-194141619.html
Chinese bombers likely training for US strikes: Pentagon

Washington (AFP) - Chinese bombers are likely training for strikes against US and allied targets in the Pacific, according to a new Pentagon report that also details how Beijing is transforming its ground forces to "fight and win."
The annual report to Congress, released Thursday, highlights China's growing military, economic and diplomatic clout and how Beijing is leveraging this to rapidly build its international footprint and establish regional dominance.
In the case of China's air power, the report states that Chinese bombers are developing capabilities to hit targets as far from China as possible.
"Over the last three years, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) has rapidly expanded its overwater bomber operating areas, gaining experience in critical maritime regions and likely training for strikes against US and allied targets," the document states, noting how China is pushing its operations out into the Pacific. … …

***
(August 18)
I (we) pray for Elon Musk because somebody needs to.  It is easy to just “shine on” the “boy billionaires” for who can relate to their lofty earthy positions, but Elon has shown also great trepidation of AI (The tech part of the Beast) and the Future unrolling before our feet.  I find hope in this that he will awaken to the prophecies concerning this End of the Age that we are in; that he will be turned to Christ and not to Antichrist who would seduce him through his great successes.  May God save him and keep him from the fruits of despair.  May God show him the Christian Faith, shining down into the depths of his soul.

https://www.wral.com/elon-musk-confronts-a-fateful-tweet-and-an-excruciating-year/17775134/
Elon Musk Confronts a Fateful Tweet and an 'Excruciating' Year
Elon Musk was at home in Los Angeles, struggling to maintain his composure. “This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he said. “It was excruciating.”
The year has only gotten more intense for Musk, chairman and chief executive of the electric-car maker Tesla, since he abruptly declared on Twitter last week that he hoped to convert the publicly traded company into a private one. The episode kicked off a furor in the markets and within Tesla itself, and he acknowledged Thursday that he was fraying.
At multiple points in an hourlong interview with The New York Times, he choked up, noting that he nearly missed his brother’s wedding this summer and spent his birthday holed up in Tesla’s offices as the company raced to meet elusive production targets on a crucial new model. … …

***
First known mass opioid overdose session, in a Connecticut park?  The slaughter rages.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/arrest-made-more-100-synthetic-pot-overdoses-park-211859789.html
Arrest made in more than 100 synthetic pot overdoses in park
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A 53-year-old man has been arrested in connection with more than 100 synthetic-marijuana overdoses, many of them in the same New Haven park, after authorities say they caught him with 32 bags of the drug, police said Friday.

***
The powers of new-think and thought-control tightening down hard?
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/08/17/shadow-ban-prageru-reveals-immediate-99-9999-drop-in-facebook-reach/
Shadow Ban: PragerU Reveals Immediate 99.9999% Drop in Facebook Reach
Conservative non-profit group PragerU appears to be facing Facebook censorship, as many recent posts from group are suffering from a 99.9999 percent drop in engagement based on Facebook’s own dashboard. The Social Media Masters of the Universe also pulled down two PragerU videos, which it labeled “hate speech.”
Echoing the apparent page limitation of conservative commentating duo Diamond and Silk, the conservative non-profit group PragerU — which produces educational videos on conservative issues — appears to have found its Facebook page’s reach drastically limited. The group’s Facebook page boasts three million followers, but its most recent posts have been seen by almost none of its followers, according to the Facebook dashboard.
PragerU social media influencer Will Witt posted a screenshot of the Facebook page’s dashboard which shows a number of statistics relating to posts from the page, including the reach posts have and how many users have clicked on links in the posts. According to the photos posted by Witt, PragerU’s last nine posts have reached between one and three of their followers. Previous posts have reached between 50,000 and 95,000 of PragerU’s followers.
(additional excerpt):  PragerU CEO Marissa Streit previously commented on censorship by tech companies stating:  There’s been a lot of outrage in our culture and while I’m the last person to advocate for even more hysteria, this is one issue that should unite all Americans, on either side of the political spectrum, in our collective outrage over internet censorship. We cannot allow companies like Google/YouTube to operate as authoritarian tyrants who control the flow of information in a time in history we call the information age. If we do, the information age will become a dark age, and what we currently understand as freedom of speech will become distorted and twisted until it isn’t really free speech at all. We risk losing this uniquely American heritage, which is really the foundation of our democracy.
***
A Vermont journalist speaks on the media situation —

pagecommunications4vt@gmail.com
VERMONT STATE HOUSE
& SOCIETY  published by Guy Page, Page Communications
Opinion – 
A former newspaper editor muses about Trump, the press, and the “enemy of the people”
 
August 17, 2018 - I edited and published the Colchester Chronicle from 1987 – 2002. I was a daily newspaper reporter before then and have been in and out of journalism ever since. From this background, I share my thoughts about the “I’m not the enemy, YOU’RE the enemy” middle-school cafeteria food-fight we’re seeing between President Trump and much of the U.S. press.
 
The Constitution specifically protects the freedom of the press AND the freedom of speech for all Americans – including the president:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
 
President Trump’s tweets and tirades are “the free exercise” of an American citizen. Every slam of him in the U.S. media is an exercise of the “freedom of the press.” Are some of their words abhorrent? Sure. But until Pres. Trump or a successor sends goons to smash the presses or arrest editors, it’s all constitutional. And if the worst does happens, the “originalist” judges Trump is appointing hand-over-fist to federal benches will demand a strict reading of the First Amendment. Either way, the Republic will endure.
 
Trump is Trump. If he thinks he’s being attacked, he retaliates, right out in the open. I say to my former colleagues: if he’s wrong, prove it. If he’s right, say so. But stop whining about how he is having a chilling effect on the First Amendment. What codswallop. Presidential “fake news” accusations go all back to President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in 1807, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.” Sound familiar? And we’ve been attacked by elected leaders ever since. Several times I saw former Gov. Peter Shumlin publicly rebuke and malign reporters who asked uncomfortable questions. Such exchanges may have been mentioned in print now and then with an editorial raised eyebrow, but no-one got too upset. It was just part of the job.
 
The press also might also consider whether there is at least a nugget of truth in what he says. Much of the national press has been sailing on a port tack since the Vietnam War. These days, the Boston Globe and the New York Times front page often carries an above-the-fold “analysis” calling Trump a liar, moron, traitor, or twisted genius, or some combination thereof. I’ve been reading newspapers critically since 1979 when my first editor at the Burlington Free Press told me to read the paper every day. Never have I seen a president, or any other elected leader, so viscerally hated and subjected to biased coverage as has been Donald Trump. It’s gone way past holding a government leader accountable, which is what I was taught to do.    
 
Trump’s words can be divisive. Some people find them corrosive. But they are, after all, just words – and thanks to the same Constitution that protects the freedom of the press, he is free to speak them. Unless he suddenly exerts unwarranted executive power over the press – which I doubt he will - America’s ship of state will keep sailing ahead on freedom’s choppy waters. So never mind the bad weather. She’s built for it. … …
***
Now, two shot at high school football game.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/local/high-school-football-game-halted-report-gunshots/FyK7pjrAGL9unTdAFXbupM/?123
Woman: I witnessed shooting at football game in Wellington, 'couldn't believe it'

***
(August 19)
Huge rumbling in the Pacific overnight, 8.2 Richter(!), but so deep no surface damage has occurred.  But what may it portend?  The Ring of Fire set off from the depths of Hell?  We shall see.
http://news.trust.org/item/20180819010104-ilciz
Magnitude 8.2 quake strikes in the Pacific, no damage expected -USGS
(Updates with quake too deep to cause any damage)
Aug 19 (Reuters) - A massive quake of magnitude 8.2 struck in the Pacific Ocean close to Fiji and Tonga on Sunday but it was so deep that it was not expected to cause any damage, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center also said the quake was too deep to cause a tsunami.
The quake was 347.7 miles (560 km) below the Earth which would have dampened the shaking at the surface.
"I would not expect any damage. People will feel it but it's so deep that I would not expect any damage," USGS geophysicist Jana Pursley said by telephone.
The quake was initially reported as a magnitude 8.0 and then upgraded to 8.2, a magnitude that could cause tremendous damage had it not been so deep. … …

*** *** ***

“Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, 
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
Colossians 2:8-10

****************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

August 12

Saints,

Frankly, I address you as saints and disciples rather than clergy or laity.  We are all called to serve Christ as “professionals” (the profession of our Faith in Hebrews 3, 1 Peter 2:9, and elsewhere) and “ministers” (servants, Matthew 20:25-28, 1 Cor. 4:1, Matthew 23, etc.).  As such, I pass along this quote framed on my office wall.  I regret I am in the dark about its ultimate author, but I am strengthened by its truths.  It is a day to stand steadfastly.  God help us daily.

To every man his work

The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it, and the devil's business to hinder him — if he can. 
So, sure as God gives a man a work to do, Satan will try to hinder him. 
He may present other things more promising; he may allure you by worldly prospect; 
he may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, 
editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. 
You may have Pilate and Herod, Ananias and Caiaphas all combined against you, 
and Judas standing by to sell you for 30 pieces of silver. 
And you may wonder why all these things have come to pass. 
Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil, to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to Christ? 
Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil's dogs. 
Do not fool around your time chasing the devil's rabbits. 
Do your work; let liars lie; let sectarians quarrel; let editors publish; let the devil do his worst. 
But see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work God has given you.

***

The Week —
 (August 5)
North Korea cloning super soldiers?  Attempting to clone its own leaders for the sake of “eternal life”?

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/721244/north-korea-cloning-kim-jong-un-world-war-3
North Korean scientists attempting to CLONE humans for Kim’s super army
Dictator Kim Jong-Un wants to create an army of super soldiers who will obey his every command. Genetic scientists have spent billions on a secret cloning programme started by Kim’s grandfather more than 30 years ago.
Now intelligence experts believe the 35-year-old tyrant wants to create perfect copies of both his father Kim Jong-il, grandfather Kim II-Sung, the founder of the modern state, and other family members – which could include himself.
MI6 believes the secretive Communist state has already cloned cats, dogs and horses – and has been experimenting on human embryos for at least 10 years.
Senior spooks working alongside the US intelligence agency the CIA have uncovered information suggesting human cloning has taken place at two secret laboratories. … …

***
Breaking News Sunday Afternoon — Major Quakes in Indonesia — following the smaller but still deadly quake reported in the last blog issue
At least 37 people are dead after a magnitute-7 earthquake struck off the coast of the Indonesian resort island of Lombok.
Sunday, August 5, 2018 2:52 PM EST
The earthquake — initially announced as a magnitude 6.8 then revised to 7.0 — struck off Lombok’s north coast and was felt on Bali, just to the west, Indonesia’s national Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said.
Minutes later, a magnitude-5.6 aftershock jolted the region again, the agency said.

Monday A.M. Update — current counts and assessments
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/powerful-quake-on-indonesias-lombok-island-kills-91-tourists-flee/ar-BBLy1AE?li=AAgges1
Powerful quake on Indonesia’s Lombok island kills 91, tourists flee
Daybreak revealed chaos and destruction across the Indonesian resort island of Lombok on Monday after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed at least 91 people and prompted an exodus of tourists rattled by the second powerful quake in a week. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said the death toll was expected to rise as information comes in from areas where thousands of buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, especially in the north, the quake's epicenter. … …

***
(August 6)
War in the streets
http://abc7chicago.com/8-wounded-in-gresham-shooting;-at-least-30-shot-in-chicago-sunday/3886976/
63 shot, 10 dead in Chicago since Friday
CHICAGO (WLS) --
Dozens of people have been wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago police said.
63 people have been shot, ten fatally, since 5 p.m. Friday. 34 of the shootings and five deaths occurred between 10 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, according to police.
During one two-and-a-half hour-hour period, 25 people were shot in five multi-injury shootings. One paramedic described Saturday evening into Sunday morning as "a war zone." … …

***

Disney announces an actual, physical (not CGI) robotic superman for entertainment.  When will advancing models be turned to super-soldiering? (see video at link)

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/03/disney-develops-robotic-stunt-double.html
Disney invented a robotic stuntman that could put human ones out of a job

***
(August 7)
The logical end of abortion politics is to exterminate life for any “justifiable” cause —

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/children-are-being-euthanized-in-belgium/2018/08/06/9473bac2-9988-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bf3c492cad32
Children are being euthanized in Belgium
Deliberately taking a small child’s life is unlawful everywhere in the world, even when the child is terminally ill and asks a doctor to end his or her suffering once and for all.
There is an exception to this rule: Belgium.  In 2014, that country amended its law on euthanasia, already one of the most permissive in the world, authorizing doctors to terminate the life of a child, at any age, who makes the request. … …

***
The classical demographic or corporate dynamic of medieval covens was a secretive group of women, meeting apart from their cuckolded, jointly-manipulated husbands, which women also set a man over them as the leader of the coven, representing “the horned god” or Lucifer.  (Also interesting how women-only clubs are now PC while men-only clubs are now forbidden?)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-women-business/british-women-only-club-defends-hiring-male-boss-idUSKBN1KR1VM
British women-only club defends hiring male boss
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The founders of Britain’s first club for businesswomen defended their decision to appoint a chairman on Monday after criticism from some gender rights activists, saying men needed to be “part of the solution”.
AllBright, a London private members’ club launched in March to connect female entrepreneurs, announced on Monday it had appointed the former head of the Asda supermarket group Allan Leighton as chairman. … …

***
An innocuous emotional attachment at first and then…”And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Rev. 13:15)
	(How’s that for “emotional”?)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/robot-manipulates-humans-bend-feel-13039259
Robot manipulates humans to bend to its will and feel SORRY for it in scary vision of the future
A study by scientists in Germany found for the first time that people can be 'guilt-tripped' by robots and find it hard to be rude to them
Robots may be able to make humans bend to their will in a chilling vision of the future, a new study has found.
Scientists in Germany discovered that robots already have the power to manipulate people by being friendly and making humans "feel sorry" for them.
An experiment found that many people decided not to turn of a humanoid because it told them it was scared of the dark.
The groundbreaking research ruled that people tend to treat mechanoids in the same way they would treat another person - and struggle to be rude to them.
A study by a team at the University of Duisburg-Esssen found this means they can be guilt-tripped. …  …
***

Jones is often “over the edge” for me too, but is it the end of Free Speech “…One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them” ?
https://apnews.com/518bcbaf93e44adeba0a4eca19a8caf6/Major-tech-companies-remove-Alex-Jones-for-hate,-bullying
Major tech companies remove Alex Jones for hate, bullying
excerpt:  …It’s unclear why the companies are cracking down on Jones now, after allowing him to publish for years. Facebook has been under fire recently for not banning Jones, but as recently as July 12 it tweeted that it sees pages “on both the left and right pumping out what they consider opinion or analysis — but others call fake news.”
“We believe banning these Pages would be contrary to the basic principles of free speech,” Facebook posted in response to a question from CNN reporter Oliver Darcy, who had been pressing the company on why it continued to allow “Infowars” on its platform. … …

***
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article216218255.html
Christian heartland opens window into fight for China’s soul

NANYANG, CHINA 
The 62-year-old Chinese shopkeeper had waited nearly his entire adult life to see his dream of building a church come true — a brick house with a sunny courtyard and spacious hall with room for 200 believers.
But in March, about a dozen police officers and local officials suddenly showed up at the church on his property and made the frightened congregants disperse. They ordered that the cross, a painting of the Last Supper and Bible verse calligraphy be taken down. And they demanded that all services stop until each person along with the church itself was registered with the government, said the shopkeeper, Guo, who gave his last name only from fear of retribution.
Without warning, Guo and his neighbors in China’s Christian heartland province of Henan had found themselves on the front lines of an ambitious new effort by the officially atheist ruling Communist Party to dictate — and in some cases displace — the practice of faith in the country. … …

…Under President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, believers are seeing their freedoms shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival. Experts and activists say that as he consolidates his power, Xi is waging the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982. …

***
(August 8)
“As it was in the days of Noah…”   “Scientific” disguised cannibalism to create chimeric mice-human monsters for “research”?

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/fda-acquiring-fresh-aborted-baby-parts-make-mice-human-immune-systems
FDA Acquiring ‘Fresh’ Aborted Baby Parts to Make Mice With Human Immune Systems
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed a new contract on July 25 to acquire “fresh” human fetal tissue to transplant into “humanized mice” so that these mice will have a functioning “human immune system,” according to information published by the FDA and the General Services Administration. … …

***
(August 9)
Yes! Signs of the Times!  While this happens, radical Islamic insurgents are busted at desert camps right here in the USA, enslaving their own children and preparing them as suicide killers.  We must pray for wakefulness and watch earnestly for our living hope, “the blessed hope” of the Rapture in Titus 2:11-14.  While “no man knows the hour or the day (Mt. 24:36),”  “you shall know the times and the seasons (1 Thess. 5:1-4).”  These things are strong markers.  May our God protect all who participate in these evangelistic crusades and add to his kingdom by them.  May God save these children of terrorists, one of whom apparently made the call to authorities to come and rescue them.

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2018/august/a-sign-of-the-times-pastor-greg-laurie-forced-to-remove-billboards-featuring-the-bible?utm_campaign=SoCal%202018&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=65074531&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_ouuMbQVtx1kyYIaafRS7wy0yC6L4zBUqpHOYmgDOerZqX-v3sCYQl9a0kyJei2T6qnZVnus56wDnyDwCOB1FcD_ekAw&_hsmi=65074531
A Sign of the Times? Pastor Greg Laurie Forced to Remove Billboards Featuring the Bible
Evangelist Greg Laurie has been forced to take down a series of billboards depicting him holding a Bible, advertising his upcoming "Harvest" outreach. The ads had been posted at a popular mall in Southern California.
Laurie and Harvest Crusade contracted Irvine Company, a real estate company in Southern California, to advertise the upcoming SoCal Harvest. The event will be held August 17-19 at Angel Stadium and is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. The company agreed to post large billboards promoting the crusade at Fashion Island, a prestigious outdoor mall in the center of Orange County.
However, after claiming the religious imagery on the ads provoked multiple complaints, including a “serious threat,” the Irvine Company mandated the billboards be modified. Harvest complied with the request and resubmitted new ad artwork without the image of the Bible. Ultimately, however, the changes were not enough to resolve the situation as the Irvine Company decided to completely remove all the advertisements and billboards for the crusade. … …

The Press has almost universally played down the admitted radical jihadi terrorist aspect of this story —
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-new-mexico-compound-children-20180808-story.html
Man trained children at New Mexico compound to commit school shootings, prosecutors say
A father arrested at a ramshackle New Mexico compound where 11 children were found living in filth was training youngsters to commit school shootings, prosecutors said in court documents obtained Wednesday.
The allegations against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj came to light as authorities awaited word on whether human remains discovered at the site were those of his missing son, who is severely disabled and went missing in December in Jonesboro, Georgia, near Atlanta.
The documents say Wahhaj was conducting weapons training with assault rifles at the compound near the Colorado border that was raided by authorities Friday.
Prosecutor Timothy Hasson filed the court documents while asking that Wahhaj be held without bail after he was arrested last week with four other adults facing child abuse charges.
"He poses a great danger to the children found on the property as well as a threat to the community as a whole due to the presence of firearms and his intent to use these firearms in a violent and illegal manner," Hasson wrote.

***
Because of the Fall, any two Wills will find things to disagree about.  (This may be part of the revelation that there is but One God and not the many gods of the fallen angels > pagan deities.)  We cannot get along perfectly until Sin is finally cast clear out in the New Heavens and the New Earth.  Meanwhile, people fight about anything they can think about or find different about each other.  Sadly, one of the chief distinctions of Created Humanity, Gender, has always been a sore dividing point.  Now, people think they can solve the issue by ignoring Gender, changing it, or doing away with it.  Often, “men are pigs,” but just as often Woman practices subversive ploys against the stronger Gender, and is vilified for it.  The “MeToo Movement” must arrive, but woe to its dehumanized victims on both sides.  They both need each other, but are ready to find the solace for their Gender in Cyborgs.  Woe upon humanity in these days!
A YouTube video featured by today’s NYTimes —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEtZcs1yj3M

 “From digital helpmates like Siri to computer-generated models like Lil Miquela, feminized tech is all around us. Are actual human women starting to look a little bit unreal?”

***
https://newsworld.co/indonesia-earthquake-death-toll-soars-past-300-amid-another-strong-aftershock/		www.nytimes.com/.../indonesia-earthquake-lombok.html
Indonesia Earthquake Death Toll Soars Past 300 Amid Another Strong Aftershock
Lombok earthquake: Strong aftershock amid Indonesia rescue efforts  BBC News
Powerful Aftershock Shakes Survivors of Indonesia Quake  Wall Street Journal
Strong quake again hits Indonesia’s Lombok Island  Aljazeera.com 
Indonesia Earthquake Leaves Newly Homeless Begging for Help  New York Times
***
Last blog notes, AI “beast” takes form for China’s populace. Now, India’s newborns must have 12 digit national ID  “Aadhaar”  just to get birth certificate.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Newborns-to-be-enrolled-under-Aadhaar-scheme/articleshow/55166217.cms
Newborns to be enrolled under Aadhaar scheme 

The state government will enrol all newborn children under the Aadhaar scheme immediately after birth now  The 11-digit unique idenfication number will be linked up with the birth registration number. … … 

***
Gog and Magog poked by US over imprisoned Christian pastor  (May God set brother Andrew Brunson free.)
https://wwwMbloombergquint.com/politics/2018/08/11/with-turkey-crisis-erupting-bankers-gather-for-emergency-talks#gs.B0727s8
Erdogan Stays Defiant as Turkey Slips Toward Financial Crisis
(Bloomberg) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is showing no signs of backing down in a standoff with the U.S. that rattled markets. As investors worry about Turkey sliding toward a full-blown financial crisis, the big question now is how far the pain may spread.
“I call out to those in the United States. It is a shame. You are trading a strategic NATO ally for a pastor,” Erdogan said Saturday during a rally in the Black Sea port of Ordu, referring to the U.S. decision to sanction Turkey for its imprisonment of an American priest. “You cannot tame our people with threats.”

*** *** ***

“…it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…”
“…blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears for they hear.”
Matthew 13: 11, 16

*********************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

August 5

Saints,

Nearly every political entity, philosophy, religion or voice claiming authority offers some kind of hope, asking for faith from its adherents, to whom it speaks or rules.  Religions in particular offer detailed instructions in operating that contractual faith.  Few offer love too, except as an abstract ideal, but no one but Christ can say this, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me…” and, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”…and, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14: 1, 18, 27).  No other delivered message but the Gospel addresses the enigmas of life and its many problems and their resolutions and final resolution so utterly and completely as does the message Christ brings to us.  He answers all matters and guarantees final and eternal results merely by his Presence, his Word, his Power and his Glory.  Behold the Lamb! …which taketh away the sins of the world!  “Neither is there salvation in any other: For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  Praise His Mighty Name!

***

The Week — “The Grapes of Wrath” :
(July 30)
A great AI beast begins to think, assess, and plan for China, using vast troves of information from all areas of existence — Revelation 13:15:  “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2157223/artificial-intelligence-immune-fear-or-favour-helping-make-chinas
Artificial intelligence, immune to fear or favour, is helping to make China’s foreign policy
The programme draws on a huge amount of data, with information ranging from cocktail-party gossip to images taken by spy satellites, to contribute to strategies in Chinese diplomacy
Attention, foreign-policy makers. You will soon be working with, or competing against, a new type of robot with the potential to change the game of international politics forever.
Diplomacy is similar to a strategic board game. A country makes a move, the other(s) respond. All want to win.
Artificial intelligence is good at board games. To get the game started, the system analyses previous play, learns lessons from defeats or even repeatedly plays against itself to devise a strategy that can be never thought of before by humans.
It has defeated world champions in chess and Go. More recently, it has won at no-limit Texas Hold’em poker, an “imperfect information game” in which a player does not have access to all information at all times, a situation familiar in the world of diplomatic affairs.
Several prototypes of a diplomatic system using artificial intelligence are under development in China, according to researchers involved or familiar with the projects. One early-stage machine, built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is already being used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. … …
(further excerpts)	…increasing on daily basis,”
	…“Artificial intelligence systems can use scientific and technological power to read and analyse data in a way that humans can’t match,” Feng said. “Human beings can never get rid of the interference of hormones or glucose.” The AI policymaker, however, would be immune to passion, honour, fear or other subjective factors. “It would not even consider the moral factors that conflict with strategic goals,” Feng added

***
US Freedom of the Press at stake between President’s lashing of agenda-driven reporting, fake news, and the strident biases and hatefulness of the liberal Press —

https://www.wral.com/new-york-times-publisher-and-trump-clash-over-president-s-threats-against-journalism/17732980/
New York Times publisher and Trump clash over president's threats against journalism
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump and the publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, engaged in a fierce public clash Sunday over Trump’s threats against journalism, after Sulzberger said the president misrepresented a private meeting and Trump accused The Times and other papers of putting lives at risk with irresponsible reporting.
Trump said on Twitter that he and Sulzberger had discussed “the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”
In a five-paragraph statement issued two hours after the tweet, Sulzberger said he had accepted Trump’s invitation for the July 20 meeting mainly to raise his concerns about the president’s “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.”
“I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” said Sulzberger, who became publisher of The Times on Jan. 1.
“I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,'” Sulzberger continued. “I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”
This is particularly true overseas, Sulzberger said, where governments are using Trump’s words as a pretext to crack down on journalists. He said he warned the president that his attacks were “putting lives at risk” and “undermining the democratic ideals of our nation.”
Sulzberger’s lengthy, bluntly worded rebuttal was a striking rejoinder to the president by the 37-year-old publisher of a paper with which Trump has had a long, complicated relationship. And it apparently touched a nerve: The president fired off a series of angry tweets in the afternoon, accusing newspapers of being unpatriotic.
“I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry,” he wrote. “The failing New York Times and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories even on very positive achievements — and they will never change!” … …
***
TSA tracking “for fun and practice”?

http://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/graphics/2018/07/tsa-quiet-skies/
Welcome to the Quiet Skies
Federal air marshals have begun following ordinary US citizens not suspected of a crime or on any terrorist watch list and collecting extensive information about their movements and behavior under a new domestic surveillance program that is drawing criticism from within the agency.
The previously undisclosed program, called “Quiet Skies,” specifically targets travelers who “are not under investigation by any agency and are not in the Terrorist Screening Data Base,” according to a Transportation Security Administration bulletin in March. … …

***
 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasy, departure from the Faith) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).  “The Great Apostasy” assaults even the great architectural cathedrals and churches of Quebec and Montreal turning them into bars, gyms, scenes of pagan and sodomite performances, “arts,” food boutiques, meditation centers, etc.  While not a Roman Catholic, I can lament with their faithful there who must stand and watch these things happen to their church buildings.  Other recent stories in Canada note that it is becoming illegal for Christian colleges, law schools, etc. to practice their educating with civil accreditation unless they will also accept the LGBT “rights” and replacements for Christian morality.

https://www.wral.com/where-churches-have-become-temples-of-cheese-fitness-and-eroticism/17733092/
Where churches have become temples of cheese, fitness and eroticism

***
(July 31)
Christian persecution at hand in US because of LGBT demands—
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sessions-us-culture-less-hospitable-people-faith-222143545--politics.html
Sessions: US culture 'less hospitable to people of faith'
Excerpt: ”Let's be frank: A dangerous movement, undetected by many but real, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. There can be no doubt. It's no little matter. It must be confronted intellectually and politically and defeated," Sessions said. "This election, this past election, and much that has flowed from it, gives us a rare opportunity to arrest these trends and to confront them. … …

***

Four Continents Suffer Record Breaking Heat Waves — Global Warming?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/07/25/record-breaking-heat-july-japan-sweden-algeria-canada/832826002/
It's hot! Record July temperatures heating up world
This summer is shaping up to be  a record sizzler from Algeria's deserts to Japan's bustling cities. 
With the United Kingdom poised for historic heat Friday, countries across four continents smashed their own temperature marks this month.  
In the  past 30 days, there have been 3,092 new daily high temperatures, 159 new monthly heat records and 55 all-time highs worldwide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In the U.S. alone, there have been 1,542 new daily high temperatures, 85 new monthly heat records and 23 all-time highs during the same period, most of which were recorded in Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. …  …

***
What’s really news here is that this report seems ho-hum in a time of constant earthquakes.  In the same month, many quakes off the coast of California and Oregon cause much speculation about the coming “Big One.”  Jesus said the times of the End of the Age would be times of “earthquakes in divers places.”  “Divers (diverse) means many, often, varied. Here, Bali, a wealthy tourist paradise in an otherwise poor region, a quake takes lives.  May God save out of it those who will seek after Him and pour his mercy on all.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/07/29/indonesia-earthquake-in-popular-tourist-area-results-in-multiple-deaths-over-160-people-injured.html
Indonesia earthquake in popular tourist area results in multiple deaths, over 160 people injured

***
New, Security Drone Robots to go online and on duty —
http://www.fox5ny.com/news/autonomous-indoor-drone-surveillance-system-developed
Autonomous indoor drone surveillance system developed
NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Two European drone companies are partnering to create the first autonomous indoor surveillance drone system.
Skysense has partnered with Avansig, to autonomously power the drone for Prosegur, a multinational security company.
Skysense says Prosegur’s surveillance drone can execute its own patrol route in a building and land itself on Skysense’s charging pad to recharge.  The company says the lightweight, fast-charging infrastructure eliminates the need for battery removal or manual charging every time a drone battery runs out. … …

***
Does Amazon takes it place as an appendage of the Beast, making Bezos “richest man in history” but discarding injured workers?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/30/accidents-at-amazon-workers-left-to-suffer-after-warehouse-injuries

Accidents at Amazon: workers left to suffer after warehouse injuries
Guardian investigation reveals numerous cases of Amazon workers being treated in ways that leave them homeless, unable to work or bereft of income after workplace accidents

***
Now, ceaseless fire season in California — as people are daily on the run for their lives

http://www.oesnews.com/the-ongoing-fire-season-and-its-contribution-to-californias-disaster-history/
The Ongoing Fire Season and Its Contribution to California’s Disaster History
It’s June 26, 2018, and the governor has declared the first State of Emergency as a result of wildfire this “season.” The Pawnee Fire began burning in Lake County on June 23, and has already burned over 8,000 acres. So, there’s one question that seems to be going around — ‘what does the future hold for wildfires in California this season?’ Well, if anyone could accurately predict that they’d be living large with riches beyond belief.
Rusty Witwer, a veteran California firefighter whose career began in 1968 with CalFire, may have the best answer to that when he recently told the New York Times he’d “ ‘never bet his pink slip’ predicting a fire season”… referring to what many in the business are calling “’the new normal’ a term now commonly applied to the state’s worsening fire seasons as a result of cyclical drought, climate change and the ceaseless drive to populate fire-prone areas.” … …

***
(August 1)
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6910780/heatwave-warning-southern-spain-europe-hottest-day-ever/
FEELING THE HEAT Heatwave warning for Brits in southern Spain as experts predict Europe could see HOTTEST EVER day with temperatures topping 48C (118+ Fahrenheit)
Mainland Europe is currently in the grip of an extreme heatwave with temperatures almost double the annual average

***
Driven mad by family-destroying custody laws?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/people-including-young-boy-killed-queens-apartment-shooting/story?id=56929608
Apparent murder-suicide that left 4 dead -- including 6-year-old boy -- stems from international custody battle, police say
An apparent murder-suicide that left four people dead in New York City -- including a 6-year-old boy -- may have stemmed from an international custody battle, police said Tuesday.
The boy's father, identified as 39-year-old Queens resident James Shields, allegedly shot all three victims before turning the gun on himself, police said.
The other two victims are believed to be Shields' current wife and his Dutch ex-wife, who had just flown into New York City from the Netherlands on or around July 21, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.
Investigators "gleaned" that a custody battle was the reason for the killings after combing through Shields' social media and interviewing family and people on the scene, Shea said. … …

***
(August 2)
Tommy Robinson freed at the indignant insistence of the British Public against this expedient unrighteousness by authorities —

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6912226/tommy-robinson-released-appeal-free-prison-latest/
'MENTAL TORTURE' Tommy Robinson thanks supporters as he walks free from prison after quashing conviction for filming at Asian sex gang trial

***
Strategic games or grooming the populace to cower?  Add killer drones, and are we near to “the wars of the Terminators?”  Drudge dubs it, “Residents Nervous As Military Choppers Buzz Over Pittsburgh For Days…”
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/08/01/military-choppers-pittsburgh-law-enforcement-tactical-training/
Public Safety Director: Military Choppers Part Of Law Enforcement Tactical Training

***
Governor Jerry Brown waxes apocalyptic about California situation, probably through the eyes of evolutionary-theory, but nonetheless —
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jerry-brown-fire-fueling-heat-worse-than-since-civilization-emerged-10000-years-ago/
Jerry Brown: Fire-Fueling Heat Worst 'Since Civilization Emerged 10,000 Years Ago'

***
The frightening hope of “eternal life” (potentially ongoing, unlimited life extension in this sinful flesh) through bio-engineering —
https://newatlas.com/bioengineered-lungs-transplanted-pigs/55738/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-08-02%20144657%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-08-02%20150257%20Camperliebe%20turns%20the%20Hyundai%20H350%20into%20a%20sleek%20camper%20van&utm_content=2018-08-02%20144657%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-08-02%20150257%20Camperliebe%20turns%20the%20Hyundai%20H350%20into%20a%20sleek%20camper%20van+CID_035c520c9c8ad9bdca2dea89e47f32e1&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Bioengineered lungs successfully transplanted into pigs
When it comes to organ transplants, the waiting list and donor list don't quite line up, and even if a patient is lucky enough to receive the surgery, there's a chance their body may reject the foreign organ. But what if doctors could grow new organs on demand from a patient's own cells? In a major step towards this future, scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have now transplanted bioengineered lungs into pigs, with no complications arising from the procedure. … …

***
(August 3)
While no biblical Christian can endorse Islam in any way, we must still sorrow for the interim anguish suffered by those who oppose the True God.  By this article, It appears a Hitlerian kind of state is descending upon China as per the Uighurs and all religions including our Faith.  When Armageddon approaches, the Kings of the East may be in a covenant breaking opposition to the “King of the West,” the Antichrist, but they seem to be quickly forming a terrible beast government themselves at this time.  To watch the present global shifting of powers and forces, religions and governments is to be awed at the immensity of the spiritual battle.  May God hide and protect the Christians there and convert many who are in darkness as the agonies increase.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/ethnic-cleansing-makes-a-comeback--in-china/2018/08/02/55f73fa2-9691-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bc62cca57416
Ethnic cleansing makes a comeback — in China
If ethnic cleansing takes place in China and nobody is able to hear it, does it make a sound? That’s what millions of Muslims inside the People’s Republic are asking as they watch the Chinese government expand a network of internment camps and systematic human rights abuses designed to stamp out their peoples’ religion and culture.
Since last year, hundreds of thousands — and perhaps millions — of innocent Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region in northwest China have been unjustly arrested and imprisoned in what the Chinese government calls “political re-education camps.” Thousands have disappeared. There are credible reports of torture and death among the prisoners. The government says it is fighting “terrorism” and “religious extremism.” Uighurs say they are resisting a campaign to crush religious and cultural freedom in China. The international community has largely reacted with silence.
Horrific as they are, the camps constitute just one part of Beijing’s effort. The government has destroyed thousands of religious buildings. It has banned long beards and many Muslim names. People are forced to eat pork against their beliefs. The Chinese government’s persecution of innocents continues even after their death.  Crematoria are being built to literally extinguish the Uighur funeral tradition, which insists on burials.
Add to that the unprecedented security and surveillance state in Xinjiang, which includes all-encompassing monitoring based on identity cards, checkpoints, facial recognition and the collection of DNA from millions of individuals. The authorities feed all this data into an artificial-intelligence machine that rates people’s loyalty to the Communist Party in order to control every aspect of their lives. … …
Along with forcing removal of crosses on Christian church buildings, noted in past links…
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/08/02/china-forces-all-religious-buildings-to-fly-communist-flag/
China Forces All Religious Buildings to Fly Communist Flag

China’s state-run newspaper Global Times derided critics in the West Thursday for condemning a new initiative forcing all religious buildings to fly China’s red flag as a means to “enhance the concept of nation.”
The newspaper claimed the move was necessary because, without imposing the government’s wishes on individual religions, the nation could “lurch toward war.”
Requiring religious institutions to fly the national flag, a symbol of the nation’s embrace of communism in 1949, is necessary because “religions are exclusive” and the government has a responsibility to work on “strengthening people’s national and civic consciousness,” the Global Times argued.
According to the state newspaper, the proposal to make all buildings fly the flag came from “the country’s major religious associations.” China recognizes only five religions legally—Protestant Christianity, Catholic Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and Buddhism—and has established government-recognized “patriotic” institutions that govern each. Chinese citizens who wish to worship outside of government institutions are considered criminals. Beijing has increased its persecution of unofficial “house” churches and home worship under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

***
Digital Wallets, one step closer. No cards needed.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/chase-atms-go-cardless
Chase ATMs go cardless

Forgot your bank card? No worries. Chase has you covered.
The New York City-based bank announced that it has expanded its cardless access to nearly all of its 16,000 ATMs nationwide.
The new technology will allow customers to get cash through their phone’s mobile wallet without needing a physical debit card or an access code for authentication.
Users can simple “tap” their smartphone on the ATM to “easily and securely access money on the go.” … …

***
(August 4)
For those of us of a generation not following this scene, you should see what this poor man did to his temple —the body — with satanic death tattoos all over him.  O, would to God this poor soul should find some mercy in his passing over, but “the wages of sin is death,” and so we would all be doomed if we have not Christ’s mercy upon us.  We are all born in spiritual bastardy, and it is only by the adoption by Christ that we are joined into the family of God.  Woe to those who are lost!

https://www.boston.com/culture/celebs/2018/08/03/zombie-boy-dies-obituary
Lady Gaga collaborator known as Zombie Boy dies at 32
Lady Gaga said on her official Twitter account Thursday night that "the suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating."

***
The starkness of This Number always startles me.  Always trouble? Even if just superstition in such cases?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/local/deal-gives-kushners-cash-infusion-on-666-fifth-avenue/ar-BBLt18a	https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/nyregion/kushners-building-fifth-avenue-brookfield-lease.html
Deal Gives Kushners Cash Infusion on 666 Fifth Avenue

Brookfield Asset Management will take a 99-year lease on the troubled building, in a deal that eases the financial pressure on the Kushner family.

***
Evolution: dead as a “40 zillion year old” rock. “Evolution-Shmevolution.”  New DNA research, though still in unbelief, realizes all plants and animals arrived at about the same time.
Thanks to “Today's Update: Settled Science on Evolution and History?” for August 2 at bereancall.org

Newly released research that analyzed millions of DNA barcodes has come to a surprising conclusion that effectively turns the theory of evolution on its head. The massive study, which spanned a decade of work from hundreds of scientists, found that 9 out of 10 animal species on the planet came into being around the same time as humans, 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Senior research associate at the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University Mark Stoeckle and University of Basel geneticist David Thaler found that 90% of all animal life on earth appeared at approximately the same time. Thaler said, “This conclusion is very surprising, and I fought against it as hard as I could.” … …
forwarded from: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/228798/20180530/massive-genetic-study-reveals-90-percent-of-earth-s-animals-appeared-at-the-same-time.htm

***

Will cyborg “wildlife,” even real wildlife be also fitted with uplinked video cam?

https://www.cnet.com/news/china-launches-high-tech-bird-drones-to-watch-over-its-citizens/
China launches high-tech bird drones to watch over its citizens
They're called Doves and they don't come in peace.
Look! Up there! A pretty little bird gliding majestically through the sky, encapsulating the beauty of natu -- oh wait. It's a high-tech surveillance drone.
Over recent years, more than 30 Chinese military and government agencies have reportedly been using drones made to look like birds to surveil citizens in at least five provinces, according to the South China Morning Post. 
The program is reportedly codenamed "Dove" and run by Song Bifeng, a professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an. Song was formerly a senior scientist on the Chengdu J-20, Asia's first fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, according to the Post.
The bird-like drones mimic the flapping wings of a real bird using a pair of crank-rockers driven by an electric motor. Each drone has a high-definition camera, GPS antenna, flight control system and a data link with satellite communication capability, the Post reports. … …

*** *** ***

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift sword.
His Truth is marching on.
Julia Ward Howe, 1861 

*****************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

July 29

Saints,

Have you noticed the extreme acceleration of time, or at least the perceived acceleration of “durational time,” the experienced acceleration of events?  It is hard not to, and it seems to be at least some of the fulfillment of prophecies such as Daniel’s “knowledge shall increase,” a divinely understated prophecy of the utter reverse cascade or geyser of knowledge gushing up and assaulting us day by day and hour by hour.  If it is not simply national and international news always buzzing about our ears, then it is also the literal ability to move and store and analyze the exponential, seemingly infinite knowledge that life in the cyber world and AI dexterity has brought us.  The graphed increase in knowledge is now straight up and not a curve.  No human can even perceive the matter except to be awestricken if considering it.

Another prophecy to keep in mind is that it would become necessary for God to “shorten the days” to prevent the destruction of “all flesh” on the Earth.  Daily now, we have public and mass murder on nearly every newscast.  Besides those, we have constant reports of multiple deaths continually from flood and fire and volcano and terrorism to mass perishing of people trying to migrate out of global hot spots of genocide, gang and drug wars, climate change and famine, and from the collapses of societies and nations.

I report on this for the sake of watching the prophecies and warning as the Lord has instructed us to do, but when I look back over a week’s gathering of links just before I hit the “publish button,” I seem to note, more and more, that the beginning of the week often feels like a month or even months back in time by the end of the week. That is how fast things are moving.  Please note also and consider that I am only looking over stories and links that are supplied to the public.  While some veracity must be maintained by “the media gods” — on such things as mass disasters — we must also realize that many news items are presented to direct our consciousness, to treat us as a herd to be managed.  Just reviewing editorial writers, we see slant and bias parading in their choices of slurring adjectives and only lightly hidden moods and agendas of their work.  All around, extreme partisanship and new tribal divisions pop up as we face daily onslaughts of news and try to determine whether they are “fake news” or not.  Yet, because we have the Word of God and the prophecies we do have much advantage in watching the world situation unfold and in carefully interpreting world events and news of them.

Surely the time of which Jesus spoke draws quickly near, but even knowing that and watching as best we can, calling on the name of the Lord, we can become almost mesmerized, as if by a snake charmer’s flute, at the sheer magnitude of events.  Remember, even the wise virgins of Matthew 25, grew drowsy as the night wore on, but they did keep reserve oil for their lamps.  We can and must do the same, keeping in close touch and watchfulness for the Presence and the Leading of the Holy Spirit, Who is the oil reserve they kept for their lamps.

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(July 23)
I believe Ezekiel’s Battle, chapters 38 and 39, is distinct from Armageddon and separated from it by about seven years, the time of the Tribulation.  Others believe they are the same battle.  I am content that they both are part of the overall final war but are different battles in it: Among the biblical evidence is that they are fought by different contestants on different sites with different tactics and have differing conclusions.  The first requires a seven month and a seven year clean-up, for both lifeless bodies and war equipment severally.  The second results in the return of Christ to Earth in the terrible Judgment on Sin, “The Day of the Lord,” the casting down of the Antichrist and his allies, and the setting up of Christ’s Millennial Reign on Earth.  But surely, Rouhani, though in dark, Islamic confusion of apocalyptic truths, is right that this War is the “mother of all wars” in that all the conflicts of history are birthed in reverse in these prophetic/apocalyptic finishing battles of the Ages of Sin and Death and of Grace and Redemption.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-usa-rouhani/irans-rouhani-warns-trump-about-mother-of-all-wars-idUSKBN1KC07Z
Iran's Rouhani warns Trump about 'mother of all wars'
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday cautioned U.S. President Donald Trump about pursuing hostile policies against Tehran, saying “war with Iran is the mother of all wars”, but did not rule out peace between the two countries.
Iran faces increased U.S. pressure and looming sanctions after Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.
Addressing a gathering of Iranian diplomats, Rouhani said: “Mr Trump, don’t play with the lion’s tail, this would only lead to regret,” the state new agency IRNA reported.“America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” Rouhani said, leaving open the possibility of peace between the two countries, at odds since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. … …

The Sabre Rattles —
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/trump-to-iran-president-never-ever-threaten-the-united-states-again.html
Trump warns Iran's President Rouhani: 'NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN'
	•	U.S. President Donald Trump threatened his Iranian counterpart in a late Sunday evening Twitter post.
President Trump on Sunday night warned that if Iran continued with its threats to the U.S. the country would suffer unspecified "consequences."In a tweet, written in all caps and directed explicitly at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Trump wrote: "Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence & death. Be cautious!"

***
To Start the Week:  More daily communal blood shed in the streets of North America —

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/one-victim-and-suspect-dead-13-injured-in-toronto-shooting-police-1.4023591
One victim and suspect dead, 13 injured in Toronto shooting: police
Toronto police say 14 people have been shot, one of them fatally, and the gunman is dead after gunfire rang out along a busy Toronto street on Sunday night.
A woman died in the shooting and a young girl is in critical condition, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters at the scene.The extent of the other victims’ injuries was not immediately known. … …

https://fox13now.com/2018/07/22/two-people-injured-in-shooting-at-lds-church-in-fallon-nevada/
One person dead, one injured in shooting at LDS Church in Fallon, Nevada
***
Israel picks National Identity over Globalism’s version of democracy — upsetting Globalist opinion writers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/world/middleeast/israel-jewish-state-nationality-law.html?emc=edit_th_180723&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980723
Israel Picks Identity Over Democracy. More Nations May Follow.

***
Does this have any meaning beyond time and gravity?  Many Jews and Christians will think so.  And surely, God is ever Sovereign over every atom of the universe.  He will allow the Temple to be rebuilt above the Western retaining wall (or nearby?), but He will not bless the Temple with his salvational Presence for the Jews as a nation have yet to receive Christ as Messiah.  Instead, the new Temple will provide the Antichrist with the opportunity to deface it with “the abomination of Desolation,” spoken of by Jesus, by Daniel, by Paul and John when the Antichrist enthrones himself as “God the Messiah” — as Christ — on the mercy seat of a found or rebuilt Ark of the Covenant within the Holy of Holies of this Temple.  The Second Coming will occur precisely 3 1/2 years later when Christ will instantly win and conclude the Battle of Armageddon.  The Antichrist and the False Prophet shall be summarily cast into the Lake of Fire then.  Satan will be bound for 1000 years in The Bottomless Pit, then loosed a little while to tempt the Millennial human and still mortal populace. Then he will also be cast for Eternity into the Lake of Fire, with all of the damned among humanity also cast there after the Final Judgment at the Great White Throne.  To all these things, the Scriptures plainly attest.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-boulder-dislodges-from-western-wall-crashes-onto-egalitarian-plaza/
Ancient boulder dislodges from Western Wall, crashes onto egalitarian plaza
Dramatic footage shows large stone coming loose from revered site, shattering on platform below; no injuries reported

***
(July 24)
Southwest bakes at 120 degrees —
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-southwest-swelters-temps-120-forecast-174416080.html
US Southwest sizzles as temperatures near 120 degrees
California authorities urge power use limits —
https://www.yahoo.com/news/socalgas-issues-natgas-curtailment-watch-ahead-california-heat-143930810--finance.html
California power grid urges consumers to conserve energy in heat wave

***

Artificial Embryos Created Without the Reproductive Process.  Preparing future cloned and artificial living bodies for cyborg interfaces and embodiments?  Shades of the Nephilim, the fallen angel/human hybrid supermen before the Flood.  As Jesus said, “It will be as in the days of Noah in the coming of the Son of man” (Matthew 24:37).

https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2018/07/23/news/british-scientists-create-artificial-embryo-from-stem-cells-1389688/
British scientists create artificial embryo from stem cells
***
Christianity being banned in India —
Excerpt from forward by bereancall.org ’s Today’s Update for July 23

…She cited the instance of more than 50 villages in central Chhattisgarh state passing resolutions banning the Christian faith soon after the BJP government assumed office on 26 May, 2014.

***
CBS’s morning broadcast on this 24 July reports widespread weather difficulties in the US — fires and heat across the Southwest, flooding with fatalities in the East.  And meanwhile, the regions around Athens, Greece suffer out of control forest fires that have already taken more than 70 lives.  What next (even today!?) for the planet?
***
(July 25)
Prelude to the Tribulation? (Rev. 6:12, 16:10);  The timing of this darkness was also similar to the timing, noon to 3, while Christ suffered on the Cross (Matthew 27:45).
(Tabloid news has to be kept under suspicion, but with the MSM full of “fake news,” sometimes the tabloids bring out some true news others would despise or neglect.)

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6856742/sky-turns-black-middle-day-remote-russian-towns-weapons-test-aliens/
END OF DAYS Mystery as sky turns black in the middle of DAY in remote Russian towns with locals blaming secret weapons test, aliens or the DEVIL
An area bigger than the British isles was plunged into darkness for several hours on Friday - sparking rumours of a meteorite or apocalyptic weapon test.

***
July 26)
Facebook implodes?  Having grown at cancerous rates of popularity, will it now be sacrificed on the altar of “some new thing”?  Drudge headlines it as FACEBOOK DEATH SPIRAL STOCK PLUNGES 24% and calculates Zuckerberg’s losses at $16.8 billion in minutes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/25/tech-stocks-poised-for-bloodbath-on-thursday-with-facebook-on-track-fo.html
Tech stocks set to crater on Thursday with Facebook on track for biggest drop ever
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was set for a big down day Thursday after disappointing quarterly results from Facebook sent the social media giant hurtling toward its biggest share price decline ever and on track to lose more than $125 billion in market value. … …

***

A few decades back we were solemnly taught that space and the worlds beyond Earth were dry, dusty, and devoid of water.  Now, we are finding that water is abundant out there!  Will the Millennial Kingdom on Earth allow vast, other-world’s colonizations by the still mortal populace under Christ’s dominion?  (The “mortal populace” are those allowed to survive Armageddon.  They will increase by normal human procreation, while the resurrected saints help govern them and interact with them.  They will live to vast ages, including up to the whole 1000 years, but are still mortal, will die quickly if they do sin, not being tempted by Satan, but they must be allowed to be tempted at the end for which Satan is released for a short while at the end of the 1000 years.  This brings on the final war of sinful rebellion that ends the present universe at God’s command and his Great White Throne Judgment which begins timeless Eternity.  See the concluding chapters of Revelation.)
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/underground-lake-found-on-mars-get-the-facts/ar-BBL449r
Underground Lake Found on Mars? Get the Facts.
Liquid water is refreshingly abundant on moons in the outer solar system, but it has proven surprisingly tough to find in reliable quantities on Mars—until now. Radar scans of the red planet suggest that a stable reservoir of salty, liquid water measuring some 12 miles across lies nearly a mile beneath the planet’s south pole. What’s more, the underground lake is not likely to be alone. … …

***
Oops…this could backfire:  Meant to assist in lab work, a technique is now found to make fossils in as little as 24 hours.   What implications could this have for the evolutionary timescale?
https://newatlas.com/lab-made-fossils/55619/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-07-26%20143441%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-26%20144925%20Solid%20state%20memory%20stores%20data%20at%20100%20times%20the%20density%20of%20Blu-ray&utm_content=2018-07-26%20143441%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-26%20144925%20Solid%20state%20memory%20stores%20data%20at%20100%20times%20the%20density%20of%20Blu-ray+CID_5af3f200aa2765911b5ddca5c6fec6db&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Lab-made fossils cram 1000s of years into 24 hours
excerpt:  …In an effort to better understand how the fossilization process affects various types of biological materials, scientists at Britain's University of Bristol developed a lab-based process in which fresh specimens such as bird feathers, lizard limbs, and leaves can be converted into "synthetic" fossils within approximately one day. …

***
(July 27)
A “One-Two Punch” for Greece.  Flash floods follow fires —

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fires-floods-hit-greek-capital-135143109.html
After fires, floods hit Greek capital
Athens (AFP) - Heavy rains led to flash flooding Thursday in the north of Athens, three days after devastating wildfires killed scores of people in the region around the Greek capital.
Fire services said they received at least 10 calls from motorists whose vehicles were stranded when roads became rivers after storms in the upscale districts of Maroussi and Ekali.
A civil defence spokesman said "dozens of cars were stuck on several main roads" after the early afternoon downpour, adding that traffic was gradually returning to normal.
Firefighters said around 160 residents were briefly trapped in their homes due to the flooding. … …

***
NIcaragua, another failing socialist state like Venezuela, descends into thug tactics against the citizen and student uprising — 
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article215568330.html
Nicaragua in ‘undeclared state of siege’ as hooded gunmen rule the streets
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA 
They ride in the back of Toyota double-cabin pickup trucks, assault rifles slung over their shoulders. No one knows their identities. They always wear black ski masks or hoods.
The gunmen — between 1,000 and 1,500 of them, according to some estimates — are part of a recently formed paramilitary force protecting the continued rule of President Daniel Ortega against a three-month-old civilian uprising. Their main tactic is terror. They conduct roundups, fire at protesters, carry out dark-of-night raids and menace the population.
The Pro-Human Rights Association of Nicaragua said Thursday that paramilitary forces have conducted 595 “kidnappings” and disappearances of citizens since the uprising began April 18. The group said it has tallied 97 killings since July 11. … …

***
Is your license plate about to become a video screen for state alerts and ads?  Big Brother rides shotgun with you?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/business/digital-license-plates.html?emc=edit_th_180727&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980727
Wheels: The Ordinary License Plate’s Days May Be Numbered
Companies are trying out ways to digitize the traditional metal version, eliminating the need for stickers to mark it as up to date. The screen could also be used for advertising or alerts.

***
(July 28)
Twitter-quake? …as Twitter follows Facebook crash.  What do these things mean prophetically?  Is a major adjustment afoot for the global social sphere?

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/As-Twitter-deals-with-many-woes-user-numbers-13111112.php
As Twitter deals with many woes, user numbers — and its shares — take a hit
Twitter might have packed in more characters per tweet — but the move hasn’t helped it assemble more users.
In its second-quarter earnings report, the company announced it had 355 million monthly active users, down 1 million from the first quarter. Wall Street closely watches Twitter’s user count as a proxy for the health of the company. Twitter shares dropped 20.5 percent to $34.12 Friday, wiping $6.6 billion off its value. … …

***
A spinning but slowing Top wobbles with censorship?
https://mashable.com/2018/07/27/alex-jones-30-day-ban/#..soQI1X9Sq8
Facebook bans 'InfoWars' founder Alex Jones for 30 days
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed in an email that the social network has enforced a 30-day time out for Jones after he was found to have violated Facebook's Community Standards. 
"Our Community Standards make it clear that we prohibit content that encourages physical harm {bullying}, or attacks someone based on their religious affiliation or gender identity [hate speech]," said a Facebook spokesperson."We remove content that violates our standards as soon as we're aware of it. In this case, we received reports related to four different videos on the Pages that InfoWars and Alex Jones maintain on Facebook," the spokesperson continued. 
Facebook reviewed the content posted by Jones and found four videos to be in violation of its Community Standards. The videos have since been taken down, the spokesperson confirmed. … …

***
Another major media figure, the head of CBS, dragged toward the guillotine of public shaming over “MeToo” charges?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/les-moonves-and-cbs-face-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct
Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

***
Not only our West Coast and Southwest (and the scorching fires that afflicted Greece), but now Great Britain bakes in preternatural heat —
Adds the NYTimes:  “The monthlong heat wave has broken records, spawned wildfires and transportation delays, and has shown that the country is not prepared to cope with this weather.”
Their “Quote of the Day”:  
"Shops are out of fans, ice, sun cream, ice cream, and there’s a water shortage that has left our beautiful, lush parks all parched and yellow. We’re not equipped for this, so it feels kind of apocalyptic."
 LUCY THORNTON, 36, an interior designer, on a monthlong heat wave in Britain that has broken records.	

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5998419/Furnace-Friday-LIVE-Britain-heads-meltdown.html
‘Furnace Friday:’ Ill-Equipped for Heat, Britain Has a Meltdown

***
(July 29)
Indeed, mayhem covers the land — 60 year old son murders both parents in nursing home, previously killing 13 year old child and 40 year old step-brother too, then dies of self-inflicted gunshot at the nursing home.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/5-dead-apparent-murder-suicide-house-nursing-home-093706841--abc-news-topstories.html
5 dead in apparent murder-suicide at house, nursing home in south Texas
Three people were found dead at a nursing home in south Texas after police responded to calls of an active shooter at the location Friday. Further investigation found two more people, including a 13-year-old boy, dead at a home belonging to the murdered couple from the nursing home, police said.
Police reported to Retama Manor Nursing Center in Robstown, Texas, a small town about two hours south of San Antonio, at about 7 p.m. local time for reports of a shooting, according to the Robstown Police Department. Upon arrival, three people were found dead, including the shooter, according to Robstown Chief Administrator and City Secretary Herman Rodriguez. Two men and one woman were pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
The two nursing home residents were identified Saturday as 85-year-old Ernest Starry and his wife, Thelma Montalvo. Richard Starry, 60, the son of Ernest, was identified by police as the alleged shooter. A gun was found near his body.
Robstown police called the threat "neutralized" in a release. … …

***
Amsterdam, long known for its legalized prostitution and open drug use begins, like San Francisco, its long descent into Infernal Chaos —
https://www.afp.com/en/news/206/amsterdam-lawless-jungle-night-ombudsman-warns-doc-17z7o61
Amsterdam 'lawless jungle' at night, ombudsman warns
Tourist hotspot Amsterdam turns into a "lawless jungle" after dark with the police powerless to intervene against crime and violence, the city's ombudsman warned in an interview Saturday.
"The city centre becomes an urban jungle at night," Amsterdam's official ombudsman Arre Zuurmond told Dutch daily Trouw, warning of illegal car and bike races zooming through the streets, open drugs sales and general mayhem.
"Criminal money flourishes, there is no authority and the police can no longer handle the situation," he warned. … …

***

California burns — and burns — and burns.  How many tens of thousands of homes and structures gone overall?  How many lives lost now?

https://apnews.com/b609fb38cbb24be4b83fee915a428470/Massive-Northern-California-fire-gets-even-bigger
2 children, great-grandmother perish in California wildfire
REDDING, Calif. (AP) — The death count from a Northern California wildfire rose to five Saturday after two young children and their great-grandmother who had been unaccounted for were confirmed dead.
“My babies are dead,” Sherry Bledsoe said through tears after she and family members met with Shasta County sheriff’s deputies.
Bledsoe’s two children, James Roberts, 5, and Emily Roberts, 4, were stranded with her grandmother Melody Bledsoe, 70, when walls of flames swept through the family’s rural property Thursday on the outskirts of Redding.

The three were among more than a dozen people reported missing after the furious wind-driven blaze took residents by surprise and leveled several neighborhoods.
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said he expects to find several of those people alive and just out of touch with loved ones. Officers have gone to homes of several people reported missing and found cars gone — a strong indication they fled.
The fire sparked Monday by a vehicle in forested hills had scorched 131 square miles (340 square kilometers) by late Saturday, up slightly from 127 square miles (327 square kilometers) in the morning. It pushed southwest of Redding, the largest city in the region, toward the tiny communities of Ono, Igo and Gas Point, where scorching heat, winds and bone-dry conditions complicated firefighting efforts.

It’s now the largest fire burning in California.
Two firefighters were killed in the blaze, including a bulldozer operator who was helping clear vegetation in the wildfire’s path. He was identified as Don Ray Smith, 81, of Pollock Pines. Redding fire Inspector Jeremy Stoke was also killed, but details of his death were not released.
About 38,000 people were under evacuation orders, 5,000 homes were threatened and the fire was just 5 percent contained.
The latest tally of 536 destroyed structures was up from 500 earlier in the day, and sure to rise. A count by The Associated Press found at least 300 of those structures were homes.
Meanwhile, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Redding, two blazes prompted mandatory evacuations in Mendocino County. The two fires, burning 30 miles (50 kilometers) apart, started Friday and were threatening more than 350 buildings.
Cal Fire officials said more than 10,000 firefighters were on the line, making progress on 14 large wildfires across California.
*NYTimes Quote of the Day —
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"The whole city is in flames, and the stuff is falling out of the sky. I want to call it ‘Silent Night,’ but that’s not it. This is spooky."
 CHRISTINE SHIELDS, who was trying to retrieve valued possessions from her dead mother’s home in Redding, Calif., on how a raging wildfire in the north had reminded her of something out of a horror or science fiction film.

*** *** ***

But thou, O Daniel, 
shut up the words, and seal the book, 
even to the time of the end: 
many shall run to and fro, 
and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel 12:4

*************************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

July 22

Saints,

The heat keeps rising, literally, as well as in all of society and throughout the planet.  Whatever the intent of the media, the quantity of reported events seems to multiply out of all control.  We can, however, stay “anchored in Jehovah” no matter what comes. He is our defense:  “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(July 16)
Carnage on the Streets / Both stories are news released yesterday, Sunday / The Police versus The Public, but especially versus black folk / Police kill and are killed —

http://abc7chicago.com/chicago-police-release-body-cam-video-of-south-shore-police-shooting/3766539/
Chicago police release body cam video of South Shore police shooting
CHICAGO (WLS) --
Chicago police released body camera video on Sunday of the fatal police shooting of 37-year-old Harith Augustus, which sparked a night of protests in the South Shore neighborhood.
Supt. Eddie Johnson said he made the unprecedented decision to release the video so quickly "because the community needs some answers and they need it now." He said he wanted to clear up misinformation about the shooting and prevent any future clashes.
The video shows what appears to show a gun and clip tucked into Augustus' pants. Moments after police approach him, the video shows Augustus walking into the street and appearing to be reaching for the weapon in his pants. … …

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article214921815.html
Police kill man they say shot 3 officers; suspect investigated in UMKC student’s death
Kansas City police on Sunday killed a man they say shot three police officers and had been a person of interest in the off-campus July 6 shooting death of a University of Missouri-Kansas City student.
All three injured officers are expected to live.
The harrowing events began just before noon at the Sky-Vu Motel on U.S. 40 and ended an hour later when the man came out of a house at 30th and Topping Avenue. All told, the suspect and police exchanged gunfire three different times. … …

***
Could this plague of poorly chosen words in public discourse, causing “heads to roll,” be not always a matter of prejudice but maybe just a matter of a frustrated soul looking for an impact word?  In these days, “the f-word” and other former obscenities have been reduced, through overuse, nearly to the level of such former expletives as “shucks” and “darn,” and now, are the only words considered inappropriate and offensive by the great PC god racial and gender slurs (and thus becoming powerful imprecations to an upset individual) ?  A week or so back, Papa John the pizza man, lost his reputation for such an outburst. Here’s the next head to roll in this burgeoning parade.  Law suits and lost careers already abound.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/East-Bay-Express-publisher-resigns-after-13075990.php?t=5c5350a3f0
East Bay Express publisher resigns after admitting to using derogatory words

***

“The death of shame itself” one reviewer writes as Sacha Baron Cohen vomits out the “Who is America?” show.  If shame is dead, then so is conscience and massive populaces of raging fools rush profaning into hell. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Come soon, O Lord.

https://deadline.com/2018/07/who-is-america-review-sacha-baron-cohen-spoof-bernie-sanders-dick-cheney-sarah-palin-showtime-1202426515/
‘Who Is America?’ Review: Sacha Baron Cohen Plays Dumb In Stupid Spoof Series
excerpt:  …Though Ali G was genius and Borat was brilliant, the subsequent offerings leading to Who Is America? intimate that the decline and fall of the comedy of Sasha Baron Cohen is almost complete with this pointless and tub-thumping exercise in ritual humiliation.
About as “dangerous” and “cold-blooded,” to quote WiA’s promos, as a multi-colored inflatable pool unicorn, this series is murky on who is being more humiliated, Cohen or his patsies. It is, however, definitive on giving 2016 flick The Brothers Grimsby a worthy rival for the stupidest thing Cohen has ever conceived. … …
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/who-is-america-review-1127051
Sacha Baron Cohen's new Showtime comedy is occasionally funny, but it's hard to be outrageous in a world where ideologies that used to be concealed are now proudly public.
Back in 2000, when Da Ali G Show premiered, people still had a modicum of shame.
In Michaelangelo terms: If the grotesques targeted by Sacha Baron Cohen in his genre-bending smash were perfect statues of ugliness, "shame" was the extraneous rock that covered them in their public personae, the temporary impediment Cohen had to carve away in his mission to reveal human nature.
It's 2018 and shame is dead. The proudly deplorable parade through the street in their hateful finery and tweet their slurs and ignorance with pride, sometimes with anuran avatars and coy usernames, but just as often associated with their own faces and names. Your typical neo-Nazi need not hide as a block of marble when he can walk proudly in his native form.  (If you're coming to this review from the right, simply substitute pussy hats and proud adherence to socialism in that paragraph.) … …

***

What a world!  A generation ago, the Conservatives were the anti-Russians and the Liberals were sympathizers.  Now, the Conservatives are willing to give Putin a chance whilst the Liberals gnash their teeth and want adversarial confrontation.  Could this have anything to do with Putin having made a confession of Christian Faith (and counter-communism) and Trump being a populist pro-nationalist (for all nations) rather than a Globalist?  Are the leftists the “base” for the Antichrist? The big summit today has their ire raised, and they cannot but fume and fulminate over it.  Their journalists writhe with adjectives, and there is talk of Trump as “treasonous” because of the Summit Meeting.  (Long ago, in his classic dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell postulated a world managed by the media announcements of always shifting antagonisms and alignments between three major world powers; so it is.)

 ***
(July 17)
So much present day, atheistic “science” is based on dogma or interpretation of observations.  Yes, working hypotheses can be found, but they are often built on false presuppositions — like learning to use a discovered light switch successfully without understanding electricity!    
— forwarded from “Today’s Update” for July 16 @ bereancall.org
Today's Update: Intact Starch Granules in "Ancient" Plant Fossil
excerpted:   Fossils keep revealing biomolecules that should be completely deteriorated and disintegrated if they are millions of years old. Scientists have just discovered intact starch granules in plant tissues alleged to be 280 million years old. … … This new finding adds to an increasing litany of fossil discoveries that defy the presupposition of deep evolutionary time. Previous ICR news stories covered the presence of a wide variety of age-defying biomolecules in fossils supposedly millions of years old. Other deep-time-defying biomolecules include DNA and proteins in dinosaur tissues, keratin in skin and feathers, lipids in bird fossils, chitin in cuttlefish and scorpion fossils, and even fossilized squid ink.  (ed. note: ICR is Institute for Creation Research, for further web searching)

***
Uh-Oh, predictable downsides of “the knowledge of good and evil” begin to show up with CRISPR-Cas 9 genetic splicing/hacking technologies?  “There be monsters…”
Germline DNA modifications mean the genetic changes are passed on to offspring….Shades of the Nephilim…and Judgment Day?

https://newatlas.com/crispr-gene-editing-dna-damage-controversy/55480/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-07-17%20142842%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-17%20143441%20Quadrillion%20tons%20of%20diamond%20discovered%20deep%20within%20the%20Earth&utm_content=2018-07-17%20142842%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-17%20143441%20Quadrillion%20tons%20of%20diamond%20discovered%20deep%20within%20the%20Earth+CID_b9b5c7929180ea15d530dc1a78ee2312&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Controversial%20study%20raises%20new%20doubts%20over%20unwanted%20genetic%20damage%20caused%20by%20CRISPR
Controversial study raises new doubts over unwanted genetic damage caused by CRISPR
A strong research paper from scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute has again raised doubts over the safety and accuracy of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique. The study suggests that the gene editing process can cause extensive unforeseen and unpredictable alterations to DNA sequences outside of the intended targets.
The new research systematically examined the broader effects of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in mouse and human cells. It was found that after the Cas9 enzyme made its initial cut to the desired DNA location, it unpredictably continued to make cuts that resulted in areas close to the target site being rearranged or inverted. … …

***
A slippery slope —

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/17/genetically-modified-babies-given-go-ahead-by-uk-ethics-body
Genetically modified babies given go ahead by UK ethics body
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics says changing the DNA of a human embryo could be ‘morally permissable’ if it is in the child’s best interests

***

(July 18)
The huge Yellowstone Caldera underlies the Grand Tetons Park too.  If it should blow, political jibber jabber, and much other news, would instantly become irrelevant — “…two-thirds of the USA would immediately be made uninhabitable.” 
Other recent news links speak of another large caldera deep, deep under New England too.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/990251/yellowstone-volcano-latest-yellowstone-super-volcano-grand-teton-national-park-fissure
Yellowstone Volcano latest: 100-FOOT fissure sparks URGENT park closure
A 100-foot fissure has opened up in the Grand Teton National Park – not far from the potentially catastrophic Yellowstone volcano.
The giant crack in the Wyoming–based national park has prompted officials to shut down areas from tourists in case of landslides.
The Grand Teton National Park said in a statement: “The Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point areas are currently closed due to elevated potential for rockfall.
“The area was closed to protect human safety on July 10 after expanding cracks in a rock buttress were detected.
“It is unknown how long the closure will be in effect. Geologists are monitoring the buttress for movement and have initiated a risk assessment for the area.”It is currently unclear how the crack opened but it is likely due to normal seismic activity in the national park area.
Despite being around 100 kilometres from the Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton does sit over the Yellowstone supervolcano.
If it was seismic activity beneath Grand Teton which caused the fissure, it could be a sign that Yellowstone is reawakening.
If the Wyoming volcano were to erupt an estimated 87,000 people would be killed immediately and two-thirds of the USA would immediately be made uninhabitable. (emphasis added, ed.)
The large spew of ash into the atmosphere would block out sunlight and directly affect life beneath it creating a “nuclear winter”.
The massive eruption could be a staggering 6,000 times as powerful as the one from Washington’s Mount St Helens in 1980 which killed 57 people and deposited ash in 11 different states and five Canadian provinces.
If the volcano explodes, a climate shift would ensue as the volcano would spew massive amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, which can form a sulphur aerosol that reflects and absorbs sunlight.

***

The Beast, as a System, is, in part, the merger of Man and Machine — a DARPA pursuit
https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2018/07/pentagon-wants-bring-mind-controlled-tech-troops/149776/
The Pentagon Wants to Bring Mind-Controlled Tech To Troops
The Defense Department’s research arm is working on a project that connects human operators’ brains to the systems they’re controlling—and vice versa.
The idea of humans controlling machines with their minds has spun off sci-fi blockbusters like “Pacific Rim” and entire subgenres of foreign film, but while today skyscraper-sized fighting robots exist only on the big screen, the Pentagon is building technology that could one day make them a reality.
Today, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is selecting teams to develop a “neural interface” that would both allow troops to connect to military systems using their brainwaves and let those systems transmit back information directly to users’ brains. … …

***

Global Warming, A doorway to Hell, sent as a pre-judgment warning? “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” (Rev. 16:8-9)  Lord God, thank you for your mercy.  As the terrible days approach, may many Hindus repent and turn to the True and Living God and be saved.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/in-india-summer-heat-could-soon-be-unbearable-literally/
In India, summer heat could soon be unbearable — literally
An analysis of South Asia’s biggest cities found that if current warming trends continued, wet bulb temperatures — a measure of heat and humidity indicating when the body can no longer cool itself — will become so high people directly exposed for six hours or more would die.

***
Answered Prayer!!!  We prayed here on the blog that the Thai boys’ deliverance would see the True God’s mercy exalted in their rescue.  Tonight on CBS News, their 14-year-old spokesman who speaks English suddenly said, “Thank you, Jesus, and thank you everyone!”  Praise God.  May the Gospel of our Lord Jesus bring to salvation both these boys and their families and witnesses and many other witnesses of this event, even all around the world!

***
(July 19)
It’s already come to this: hard to tell a human from a ‘bot.  5 tips to help —

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611655/how-to-tell-if-youre-talking-to-a-bot/
How to tell if you’re talking to a bot
The five best ways to detect fake social-media accounts.

***
(July 20)
Elon Musk, showing his propensity for genius in even becoming one of the club of “boy billionaires,” has also shown a striking awareness of the dangers of AI, self-conscious robots, terminators, etc.  If he is feeling the heat and over-venting on Twitter on varied other subjects (as are other famous leaders), WE PRAY GOD CONVERT HIM TO THE TRUTHS OF THIS END OF THE AGE ERA, AND LEAD HIM TO THE REAL AND BIBLICAL CHRIST.  AMEN.  (A critic assesses Elon is “fueling an unhelpful perception of your leadership — thin-skinned and short-tempered.”  And this may be true, but it is an individual leadership style in a day when PC and hive-mind complicity is the only “acceptable” stance.  Anyone taking any stands or stances may now be subject to the wrath of the AI?)

https://nypost.com/2018/07/19/elon-musks-bizarre-tweets-are-raising-red-flags-on-wall-street/
Elon Musk’s bizarre tweets are raising red flags on Wall Street
Tesla’s Elon Musk has been tweeting as if he’s as high as one of his SpaceX rockets.
Wall Street analysts, regulators and the media have all been recent victims of the eccentric billionaire.
But his calling a member of the team rescuing Thai soccer kids a “pedo” did more than raise eyebrows.
The July 15 tweet prompted an open letter from Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster, who described Musk’s behavior as “fueling an unhelpful perception of your leadership — thin-skinned and short-tempered.” … …

***
Overnight Catastrophes in Iowa —  (Lord God, save those who lean on You and let your mercy stir “godly sorrow” on those who need to call on You. 2 Cor. 7:10)
http://www.kcci.com/article/central-iowa-ripe-for-storm-chances/22444689
Pop-up tornadoes create nightmare throughout central Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) —
At least several tornadoes tore through central Iowa on Thursday afternoon, hitting key landmarks in some cities, such as the Marshall County Courthouse in Marshalltown and Vermeer Manufacturing in Pella.
Heavy rain, damaging winds and hail were also part of the system. … …

***
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2018/07/19/texas-smashes-1925-heat-record-as-power-prices-surge-on-demand
Texas Smashes 1925 Heat Record as Power Prices Surge on Demand
Bloomberg) -- North Texas smashed a 93-year-old daily heat record Thursday, with the mercury climbing to 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Delay walking your dog until sunset” during the heat wave, the National Weather Service said in a message posted on Twitter. “Our infrared thermometer measured 136 degrees this afternoon on the sidewalk. These temperatures are hot enough to burn Fido’s paws.” 
Texas was set to break its power-demand record for the second day in a row, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator. “It’s insanely hot here,” said Ercot spokeswoman Leslie Sopko. “You can only be outside if you’re in a swimming pool.”… …

***
In a day when inclusion of absolutely everything is required, Israel affirms nationhood of its people, the Jews —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/middleeast/israel-law-jews-arabic.html?emc=edit_th_180720&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980720
Israeli Law Declares the Country the ‘Nation-State of the Jewish People’
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has long demanded that the Palestinians acknowledge his country’s existence as the “nation-state of the Jewish people.” On Thursday, his governing coalition stopped waiting around and pushed through a law that made it a fact.
In an incendiary move hailed as historic by Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition but denounced by centrists and leftists as racist and anti-democratic, Israel’s Parliament enacted a law that enshrines the right of national self-determination as “unique to the Jewish people” — not all citizens.
The legislation, a “basic law” — giving it the weight of a constitutional amendment — omits any mention of democracy or the principle of equality, in what critics called a betrayal of Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence, which ensured “complete equality of social and political rights” for “all its inhabitants” no matter their religion, race or sex.
The new law promotes the development of Jewish communities, possibly aiding those who would seek to advance discriminatory land-allocation policies. And it downgrades Arabic from an official language to one with a “special status.” … …

***
Gog rising?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/turkey-erdogan.html
Erdogan, Flush With Victory, Seizes New Powers in Turkey
ISTANBUL — Even before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey was inaugurated last week, he began elbowing his way into the front ranks of the globe’s strongmen.
Hours before taking the oath of office — after 15 years already in power — Mr. Erdogan published a 143-page decree changing the way almost every government department and public body in the country operates.
In the days since, he has issued several equally lengthy decrees and presidential decisions, centralizing power and giving him the ability to exert control in nearly all areas of life with almost unchecked authority.
At a moment when democratic systems around the world are under increasing pressure, Mr. Erdogan, who was re-elected in June, is among those leaders, like Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary, who are using the levers of democracy to vastly expand their authority. … …

***
(July 21)
Tiny and not so tiny robot swarms become like an amorphous new creature penetrating impossible places and shaping themselves into new, lifelike hive-mind instruments.
https://newatlas.com/darpa-tiny-robots-disaster-releif/55520/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-07-20%20143313%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-20%20144813%20Flying%20whale%20Airbus%20BelugaXL%20takes%20flight&utm_content=2018-07-20%20143313%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-20%20144813%20Flying%20whale%20Airbus%20BelugaXL%20takes%20flight+CID_919a401bb4761103a512263581fd9441&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=DARPAs%20tiny%20robots%20to%20have%20a%20big%20impact%20on%20disaster%20relief
DARPA's tiny robots to have a big impact on disaster relief
https://newatlas.com/intel-anniversary-guinness-world-record/55541/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-07-20%20143313%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-20%20144813%20Flying%20whale%20Airbus%20BelugaXL%20takes%20flight&utm_content=2018-07-20%20143313%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-07-20%20144813%20Flying%20whale%20Airbus%20BelugaXL%20takes%20flight+CID_919a401bb4761103a512263581fd9441&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=2018%20drones%20take%20to%20the%20air%20as%20Intel%20sets%20yet%20another%20world%20record
2,018 drones take to the air as Intel sets yet another world record

***
War erupts in Israel —
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/israeli-fire-kills-three-palestinians-during-border-protests-170654046.html

Israeli soldier, three Palestinian militants, protester killed in Gaza escalation
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli soldier along the Gaza border on Friday, said the Israeli military, which launched dozens of strikes into Gaza that killed four Palestinians, including three Hamas fighters.
The soldier was the first to be killed on the Gaza front in active duty since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, an Israeli army spokesman said. He was on "operational activity" when he and colleagues came under fire, the military said.
At least four Palestinians were killed in later Israeli strikes, according to Palestinian medical officials. Hamas, the armed Islamist movement which controls Gaza, said three of the dead were its fighters. The fourth was a protester, local residents and medics said. At least 120 Gazans were wounded. … …

***
Russian humanoids shake hands with creators and head to International Space Station:  “Pleased to meet you; hope you guessed my name, because replacing you is the nature of my game!” (paraphrase of Mick Jagger, putting words in the devil’s mouth, long time back now.)
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/07/russia-may-put-androids-orbit-next-year-state-media-says/149927/
Russia May Put Androids in Orbit Next Year, State Media Says
The mission would be the latest for FEDOR, created for rescue work — and more recently given the ability to shoot guns.
The International Space Station should prepare for the arrival of its first android crew members, Russian state media says. The Roskosmos space agency has approved a preliminary plan to send a pair of humanoid robots called FEDOR into space in August 2019, according to “a source in the space and rocket industry” quoted by the RIA Novosti website.

***
(July 22)
The week ends in more public carnage as a young man kills one and holds 40 hostage in a Trader Joe’s after multiply shooting his grandmother earlier.  It was noted that he was seized by chills and in a condition resembling shock —
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/07/21/reports-of-possible-active-shooter-at-silver-lake-trader-joes/
Woman Dies During Standoff At Silver Lake Trader Joe’s, Suspect Taken Into Custody
STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — One woman is dead after a gunman entered the Trader Joe’s grocery store in Silver Lake, barricading himself inside with multiple hostages.
The suspect, described initially as a man in his late teens, was taken into custody following a nearly 4-hour standoff with police at the Trader Joe’s near Hyperion and Rowena avenues Saturday afternoon. … …

A trans blames his demons for murderous ax-attack—

https://pjmedia.com/trending/transgender-ax-attacker-uses-drugs-demon-possession-to-defender-himself-in-court/
Transgender Ax Attacker Uses Drugs, Demon Possession, to Defend Himself in Court

An Australian man who identifies as a transgender woman defended himself in court on Thursday, claiming that he was either possessed by a demon or his mind was addled by drugs and therefore it was his body, not him, who attacked people at a 7-Eleven with an ax last year.
Evie Amati, the 26-year-old suspect, does not deny being bodily present at the time, but claims his* mind was somewhere else. Amati allegedly attacked two people with an ax at a 7-Eleven on January 7, 2017. The suspect then reportedly swung the ax twice at a man outside who managed to avoid the blows. Amati has pleaded not guilty to six charges, including two counts of wounding with intent to murder. … …(in store video monitor catches the attack, ed.note)

*** *** ***

 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help?
My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.” 
Psalm 121:1-2

*********************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

July 15

Saints,

We pause, along with the world, to rejoice over the miraculous salvation of the Thai boys, praying that God’s mercy be extolled even by the world (and that eternal salvation would also be stirred among them).  But the world staggers on under many heavy weights, making it so ready for the rise of Antichrist, while we instead rejoice, not at the world’s troubles but at the abundant signs that Christ prepares our catching up and the soon coming manifestation of his Kingdom on Earth: 
“So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” (Matt. 24:33)… “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11)

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(July 9)
A Must-Read in its entirety.  China becomes the first to step deeply into Big Brother (Beast/Antichrist) surveillance and algorithmic control of its population.

https://newsprimeglobal.com/2018/07/inside-chinas-dystopian-dreams-a-i-shame-and-lots-of-cameras/
Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras

ZHENGZHOU, China — In the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, a police officer wearing facial recognition glasses spotted a heroin smuggler at a train station.
In Qingdao, a city famous for its German colonial heritage, cameras powered by artificial intelligence helped the police snatch two dozen criminal suspects in the midst of a big annual beer festival.
In Wuhu, a fugitive murder suspect was identified by a camera as he bought food from a street vendor.
With millions of cameras and billions of lines of code, China is building a high-tech authoritarian future. Beijing is embracing technologies like facial recognition and artificial intelligence to identify and track 1.4 billion people. It wants to assemble a vast and unprecedented national surveillance system, with crucial help from its thriving technology industry.

“In the past, it was all about instinct,” said Shan Jun, the deputy chief of the police at the railway station in Zhengzhou, where the heroin smuggler was caught. “If you missed something, you missed it.”
China is reversing the commonly held vision of technology as a great democratizer, bringing people more freedom and connecting them to the world. In China, it has brought control. … …

***
Heat Waves Stalk our continent harming many —

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/us/heat-wave-los-angeles-wxc/index.html
Thousands without power in Los Angeles after high demand due to heat wave
(CNN)Thousands of Los Angeles residents were left without power Saturday morning after a heat wave prompted high electricity demand throughout the city.
"Friday's record-setting heat led to unprecedented peak electricity demand," according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). High demand caused power outages throughout city and left 34,500 customers in the dark -- without fans or air conditioning.
The department said that figure accounts for about 2.5% of their 1.5 million customers.
Scorching heat has descended upon California and parts of the southwest after a heat wave swept across Canada earlier in the week, killing dozens in the province of Quebec, according to Canadian health officials.
Many areas in California on Friday broke their daily high temperature records, according to CNN meteorologists. Downtown Los Angeles reached a high of 108 degrees, breaking its previous daily record of 94 degrees, which was set in 1992.

***
Jihadist Genocide Against Nigeria’s Christians.  Pray for them.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2380
International Community Ignores Genocide Of Christians In Nigeria
In what the Christian Association of Nigeria is calling a "pure genocide," 238 more Christians were killed and churches desecrated by Muslims last week in the west African nation. This brings the death toll of Christians to more than 6,000 since the start of 2018.
According to a joint statement by the Christian Association, an umbrella group of various Christian denominations, "There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage."
The statement condemned the recent attacks, "where over 200 persons were brutally killed and our churches destroyed without any intervention from security agencies in spite of several distress calls made to them."
The statement adds that the majority of those 6,000 Christians massacred this year were "mostly children, women and the aged... What is happening in ... Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately." … …

*** 
Few thoughtful Christians would deny that sex, though created by God for our pleasure in his designed relationships for us and as his design for our race of beings to procreate, causes a lot of trouble and sin in this fallen world, but what comes of the secular decisions to mark out sexuality itself as “mental disorder”?  The piece also equates it with “gaming addiction.”  The danger here is in ruling various people outside the Authoritative idea of a norm and then relegating them to “the crazy bin” and/or criminalizing them. The notable editor of “the shrink’s bible,” fourth edition, The DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, resigned in disgust when the fifth edition turned practically every human behavioral pattern into something suitable for “therapy” as one or another kind of mental disability.  The dystopian horror is evident here when anyone who does not meet the criteria of what the State, the Algorithm, the Beast decides is acceptable.  Orwell said a time would come when the Authority would declare an “Anti-Sex League” and would criminalize anyone who resisted enforced abstinence and heroize designed youth movements to vigorously champion the cause.  I am not speaking here of sexual practices condemned by God but of what once would have been even proper amorous interest between the genders and in alignment with God’s plan.  Doubtless this will serve as judgment for those who have turned to orgyism and to flights of fornication and adultery, but the #MeToo movement and the like, carried to extremes, will alienate, even destroy the good and attractive differences between the genders, and could dehumanize humankind on a massive scale.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5933317/Sex-addiction-mental-health-disorder-declare-World-Health-Organization.html
Sex addiction IS a mental-health disorder, declares World Health Organization and treatment
	•	An inability to control sexual urges leading to people neglecting their health
	•	Sufferers do this despite often deriving no pleasure from being intimate
	•	Patients must suffer from the disorder for six months and experience distress
	•	It is unclear if sex addiction treatment will be provided on the NHS
	•	The WHO also declared compulsive video-game playing a disorder

***
(July 11)
Syria at the Borders of Israel — A Survey of the Staging Grounds for World War 3?

https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2018/07/10/israel-on-watch-as-once-quiet-border-rumbles-with-sounds-of-war
There Are Fears of New Conflicts at One of Israel’s Quietest Borders
(Bloomberg) -- A reinforced deployment of tanks and heavy guns is parked along Israel’s frontier with Syria as the civil war that transformed the balance of power in the Middle East appears headed into its final stretch.

 ***
(July 13)
Surrounded by helpful, attentive (listening) ‘bots…a paradise of convenience? …but every word flows up for analysis, profiling and record to “the Great Hive Mind in the Sky.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/all-ears-always-on-listening-devices-could-soon-be-everywhere-1531411250
All Ears: Always-On Listening Devices Could Soon Be Everywhere
Tiny microphones are moving us toward a world where all gadgets can respond to a voice command
If every tree falling in every forest might soon be heard by an internet-connected microphone, what hope is there for our privacy?
Already when you’re sitting in a room with an iPhone, an Apple Watch and a smart assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home, you’re surrounded by a dozen microphones. (Newer iPhones have four and the Echo has seven, while the smartwatch has just one, for now.)
Add in the latest smart wireless headphones—Apple’s expected next-generation AirPods or competing ones from Bose or Shure—along with talking microwave ovens and TVs from Samsung, LG and others, and anyone at home or in an open-plan office could soon be within earshot of hundreds of microphones. Most of them will be listening for a wake word like “Alexa,” “Hey Siri,” or “OK Google,” just as our phones and smart assistants do now.

The roadmaps of tech giants and startups alike show how sound is poised to become the first ubiquitous connection between users and the artificial-intelligence hive mind the internet is becoming.
Driving this change are massive volumes of components, originally designed for smartphones and other mobile devices, that have dropped in price and grown in functionality over the past decade. … …

***
Unfolding Apocalypse Japan?  An update.  Widespread and utter destruction from the floods and mudslides.  May God bring mercy to a country often very resistant to the Gospel due to nationalistic xenophobia and cultural pride.  People sit, with nowhere to turn, in dehydration, heat, caked mud and little to no water.  May the Christians be empowered as Light there.  May God’s mercy break through.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44756369
Japan floods: 'Extreme danger' amid record rainfall

Intense heat and water shortages raised fears of disease outbreaks in flood-hit western Japan on Thursday as the death toll from the worst weather disaster in 36 years neared 200.
More than 200,000 households had no water a week after torrential rains caused floods and set off landslides across western Japan, bringing death and destruction to decades-old communities built on mountain slopes and flood plains.
The death toll rose to 195, with several dozen people still missing, the government said on Thursday.
With daily temperatures above 30C and high humidity, life in school gymnasiums and other evacuation centres, where families spread out on mats on the floors, began to take a toll.
Television footage showed one elderly woman trying to sleep by kneeling with her upper body on the seat of a folding chair, arms over her eyes to keep out the light.
With few portable fans in the evacuation centres, many survivors tried to cool themselves with paper fans.
The limited water supply meant that people are not getting enough fluids and in danger of suffering from heatstroke, authorities said. People are also reluctant to use what water they do have to wash their hands, raising fears of epidemics.
"Without water, we can't really clean anything up. We can't wash anything," one man told NHK television.
The government has sent water trucks to the disaster area, but supplies remain limited.
More than 70,000 military, police and firefighters toiled through the debris in a grim search for the missing.
Some teams shovelled dirt into sacks and piled the bags into trucks. Others used diggers and chainsaws to work through landslides and splintered buildings.
Many areas were buried deep in mud that smelled like sewage and had hardened in the heat, making the search more difficult.
Disasters set off by torrential rains have become more frequent in Japan, perhaps due to global warming, experts say. Dozens of people died after similar rains caused flooding around the same time last year.
"It's an undeniable fact that this sort of disaster due to torrential, unprecedented rain is becoming more frequent in recent years," chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference in Tokyo.
"Preserving the lives and peaceful existence of our citizens is the government's biggest duty. We recognise that there's a need to look into steps we can take to reduce the damage from disasters like this even a little bit," he added.

***
The best laid plans of mice and men? Musk, one of the “boy billionaires” hits up against the realities of the material world.  He has also often shown interest and alarm at the frightening rise of AI.  May God show him the extremely strong connection between the biblical prophecies about the rise of the Beast and the present hour of ultra robotic / global hive mind AI technologies…and SAVE him and many among his associates.

Hell for Elon Musk Is a Midsize Sedan
Will the Model 3 make Tesla a real car company?
On July 1, Elon Musk went home to sleep. The chief executive of Tesla Inc. had been camping out at his electric car factory in Fremont, Calif., for much of the past week. He’d been sleeping on a couch, or under a desk, as part of a companywide push to get out of what he calls “production hell” by manufacturing at least 5,000 of Tesla’s new Model 3 sedans in a week. “I was wearing the same clothes for five days,” Musk says in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “My credibility, the credibility of the whole team,” was at stake.
Musk initially promised as many as 200,000 Model 3s by the end of 2017. To get there he planned an unprecedented investment in factory robots, calling the production line “the machine that builds the machine.” He’d said it would look like “alien dreadnought”—a manufacturing process so futuristic, unstoppable, and cost-effective that it would seem extraterrestrial.
It hasn’t worked out that way. Tesla ended 2017 having made not quite 2,700 Model 3s. As of the end of June it had turned out about 41,000, and some analysts express doubts about whether it will ever be able to show a profit on the car, and Tesla hasn’t even started selling the $35,000 base model. … …
***
Bibi negotiates with the powers of Ezekiel 38 and 39’s Rosh (Russia) and Meshech (Moscow and the Muscovites), head of the great forces of Gog and Magog, concerning the leash of Persia (Iran) —
https://beastwatchnews.com/netanyahu-says-putin-agreed-to-restrain-iran-in-syria
Netanyahu Says Putin Agreed to Restrain Iran in Syria
JERUSALEM — It was not the deal he was hoping for, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel left Moscow on Thursday saying he had won an important commitment from President Vladimir Putin.
Israel, he said, did not object to President Bashar al-Assad’s regaining control over all of Syria, a vital Russian objective, and Russia had pushed Iranian and allied Shiite forces “tens of kilometers” away from the Israeli border.
Mr. Netanyahu’s suggestion of progress in talks with Mr. Putin came at a crucial moment: Syrian forces backed by Russia and Iran are laying siege to a rebel-controlled pocket of southwestern Syria, sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing toward Jordanian and Israeli territory.
With Syrian government forces raising the national flag on Thursday over Dara’a, birthplace of the revolt against Mr. Assad, the endgame of the Syrian civil war seemed to be fast approaching. And with it, time could be running out for Israel to dislodge Iran from Syria by diplomatic means. … …

***
(July 14)
An observation of fake news:  Saturday evening’s NBC News features extensive observations of anti-Trump demonstrators in the UK, but slides in only a few seconds’ report on pro-Trump, pro-Brexit, patriotic demonstrations crying for the release of Tommy Robinson, who was recently seized and hidden away in prison for only cellphone videoing in public near the doors of the court supposedly trying members of Muslim rape gangs against British children.  Lo, the Beast!  Does it have a throne in Scotland Yard?

***
(July 15)
Facebook continues its beastly reins on Free Speech, censoring a Gospel Song, etc. as “political” —

http://www.wnd.com/2018/07/is-this-a-political-ad-facebook-thinks-so/
IS THIS A POLITICAL AD? FACEBOOK THINKS SO
Gospel praise song blocked by social-media censors

The Gospel music group Zion’s Joy! posted its new song “What Would Heaven Look Like,” a purely spiritual Christian praise song, to Facebook, boosting it with a $100 purchase – only to see the song censored for “political content.”

In a statement, a Facebook spokeswoman said that its political ad policy is “new, broad and exists to prevent election interference, so we’re asking people with content that falls under those rules to simply get authorized and show who paid for the ad in order for it to run.”
“Separately, we made an error by deleting the original post,” the statement continued. “As soon as we identified what happened, we restored the post since it does not violate our Community Standards and have apologized to Zion’s Joy.”

But the pattern of Facebook “errors” is alarming, especially insofar as “political content.” The First Amendment, protecting free speech, freedom of religion and the free press, was predicated to protect, among other things, political speech. Yet, with near-monopoly control as the predominant social-media site in the world, Facebook is making some shockingly horrific calls. … …
The New York Times recently pointed out that posts “on subjects as innocuous as a cake recipe” — have been treated as political advertising by Facebook. More recently, Facebook notified a publisher in Texas that it had violated the social network’s standards on hate speech by posting an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence.

***
The War in Washington.  Will our government tear itself to shreds?

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/07/14/rosenstein-not-smiling-anymore-after-house-republicans-spotted-with-his-impeachment-docs-654125
Rosenstein not smiling anymore after House Republican’s spotted with his impeachment docs

Two House Republicans are seeking to file impeachment documents against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as early as Monday, according to Capitol Hill sources who spoke with Politico.
Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, both members of the House Freedom Caucus, take issue with both the deputy attorney general’s poor handling of the Russia investigation and his lack of transparency.
Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s scandal-plagued probe into alleged Russian collusion and was the official who named the FBI veteran to lead the probe last year, has repeatedly stonewalled requests from congressional Republicans for access to documents pertaining to the investigation.
Rosenstein has also made brazen attempts to protect FBI agent Peter Strzok, a former Mueller team member who’s been outed as a virulently anti-Trump zealot. 
The attorney AG was grilled by Jordan during a heated congressional hearing held late last month. … …

***
Chicago, home of the original Sears Tower, to shut its last Sear Store.  Oh, yes, Internet shopping is convenient, but does a beast rise with Amazon?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-last-chicago-store-0714-story.html
Chicago's last Sears to close for good Sunday
Mike Lord remembers treating the Sears at Six Corners as a neighborhood hangout when he was a kid.
When his parents pushed to turn off the TV and get outside, he would sneak over to the store’s TV department to watch Cubs games.
“It was my babysitter when I couldn’t get friends together to play ball,” said Lord, 59, who was shopping at the store Friday and still lives a few blocks away.
The Six Corners store, on the edge of Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood, will shut its doors for the last time Sunday, two months shy of its 80th anniversary. The closure is part of Sears effort to turn around its business after years of losses and declining sales, but when the store rings up its final sale, the city will lose one more link to a hometown company that used to be the world’s largest retailer. … …
(related, thanks Matt D) :
https://nypost.com/2018/07/14/the-department-store-apocalypse-is-taking-its-toll-on-nyc/
Department Store apocalypse is taking its toll on NYC
I’m going to miss Lord & Taylor like mad when the Fifth Avenue flagship closes next year. It isn’t only because of the unlikely bargains I scored on its often-deserted men’s floors — a red vinyl Perry Ellis-label jacket, marked down from $79.95 to $39.95 that strangers hilariously mistake for Armani, and a wool winter coat as good as any for $49.99.
I won’t miss the once-charming but more recently cheap-looking holiday windows that weren’t worth waiting on line for. But Lord & Taylor, like every big department store, offered a welcoming civility that softened the city’s rough edges. New York will be slightly less human without it, however obsolete its business model. Never again will the public enjoy the store’s grand main floor with its noble vaulted ceiling, arched mirrors and stately columns.
The shutdown is one of up to 10 Lord & Taylor closures of a total 50 stores planned by chain owner, Hudson’s Bay Company. It comes amidst a nationwide department store apocalypse. Hudson’s Bay, which owns 488 stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, is battling high debt, declining sales and falling stock prices.
Another industry giant, Macy’s Inc., which also owns Bloomingdale’s, has closed 14 percent of its stores since 2014, while its same-store sales in 2017 fell 4.3 percent compared with 2016. J.C. Penney closed 138 locations, or 14 percent of its stores, last year. …  …

***
Perhaps the greatest danger for comfortable, sleepy Christians in this day?  A forward by BereanCall in its Daily Update for July 12.  
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:5)
	“…go ye not therefore after them. (Luke 21:8d)
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:8-10)

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/presenting-a-different-jesus-howard-green.html
Today's Update: Presenting a Different Jesus

The Jesus being presented in many churches today is different because He is not the One we find in the Bible. The popular Jesus being presented is the one who fills churches to the rafters with fans and not disciples. People are following a genie in a bottle that will grant them all of their hopes and dreams. He is a Hallmark card version of Jesus who is willing to overlook sin and just be a good friend to pal around with. He never makes us feel bad or consider ourselves less than number one.

Many of our modern churches focus on self-improvement instead of dying to self. This is works based nonsense and basically, the same thing practiced among many pseudo-Christian cults including Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism. The logic is if you work hard enough and be good enough, you can earn eternal life.

Instead of lovingly warning people about fleeing the wrath to come, we decide we know a better approach. We attempt to woo people into the Christian life by presenting its features and benefits much like a good salesman. This isn't the biblical model of how to present the gospel and it is certainly not the way to make disciples.

The local church's main purpose isn't to help people improve their financial planning skills, have a better marriage, or to get them connected into activities galore for the whole family. What people desperately need is to hear the gospel to come to the end of themselves and be truly born again. We don't want to present a different Jesus who is a cosmic genie who caters to our felt needs and desires.

Trouble begins when seeker-sensitive hirelings who are not shepherds water down the gospel. They present a different Jesus and this is a deception plaguing many churches today. These preachers may want to improve their image, popularity, or ministry numbers, so they make coming to Jesus about life enhancement, not dying to oneself.

I feel the uneasy tension when [speaking] to people about heaven, hell, eternity, sin, and repentance. The Lord never promised it would be easy to be His disciple but he promised to be with us always and give us the words to say when we testify about Him. It's my deep desire and prayer for each of us to renew our commitment to speak the truth, with love as the motive and do it with boldness as the Holy Spirit directs us. While many are compromising and presenting a different Jesus, I pray the faithful remnant will continue to make Him known.

(ed. note: fuller text at the link)

***

 “And that, knowing the time, 
that now it is high time 
to awake out of sleep: 
for now is our salvation nearer 
than when we believed.” 
Romans 13:11

***************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

July 8

Saints,

Some thoughts on The Rapture of the Church, its ever imminency, its suddenness, its present nearness —

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard (from the Lord and his Scriptures), lest at any time we should let them slip…(for) how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation”…(see Hebrews 2:1-3).

At the beginning of Christ’s present-day movements among us and over his people, we were filled with joy for his telling us that He Himself would return and translate us alive into the Resurrection and into Heaven, saving us from the terrible judgments that would be the signs of the End of Age and his fierce Second Coming to judge the Earth and its inhabitants, “the Day of the Lord.”  (Luke 21:36 “escape”, Rev. 3:10 for the obedient faithful, and the above Hebrews 2 “escape” among other signs, verses, and intimations) 

I have walked now nearly 45 years in these biblical revelations, and though He tarries, yet they remain chief among my motivations to his service.  I love Him (for He first loved me), and I surely want to see Him, to be with Him, and to glory in His presence in my own resurrection. The Rapture of the Church is that Very Thing, the Resurrection of the Saints, “the first resurrection,” of all authentic believers, as this Age ends.  It is a very elemental and cardinal doctrine. (By the way, “the Rapture” is a biblical term, being Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of the Greek “harpazo” in 1 Thess. 4:17 which the KJV renders as “caught up.”)

At the beginning of our revival, the very move of God for this generation, “the Jesus People” in my case and for many others, we were all filled with this doctrine of “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) of being caught up alive to Him, along with the resurrected saints of past ages who would proceed us in resurrection in the timeless moment, “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51-52 et al) just before we the living, when He calls us all up together “in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:17) to be with Him bodily henceforth and forevermore.  BUT, it was not long, in the revival of our day, before many doubters and disputers arose and the devil’s attacks of apostasy began.  So that now, looking out over my own little perspective of 45 years in the Faith, I see the large swamp of “Christendom” with every manner of apostasy and demonic doctrine (taught and filling the air waves and cyber space) and sown daily among the saints by our adversary.  Sometimes, it seems there are 100 false teachers (especially in media), filled with their own grasping motivations, for every teacher that is trying to be true.  And even we the True are filled with many questions and bewilderments and are assaulted daily with doubts and discouragements…often abetted by the gossips and unbeliefs of the “weeds” among us sown into the field of good grain as the Lord described the upcoming Church Age when he was teaching his disciples by parables (See the parables of the tares sown among the wheat, Matthew 13, and of the sower and the seed, Luke 8.)

So that I of necessity have learned to test, as they arrive, every impulse, every input, every allowance with these questions:  Is this maturity, or is this apostasy?  Some things I must carefully learn to allow now, looking after the liberties of Romans 14, and seeing some of the presumptive impossibilities of youthful zeal and self-righteous dogmatizing, but in other things I must be very careful lest the devil and my own weariness tempt me to forget essential truths or neglect and disparage such essential revelations as the doctrine of the Rapture.  For I am still flesh and blood and must be crucified daily, even hourly and momentarily, if I would walk in the Spirit and in the Truth.  And “the old man” of the Flesh is yet more grumpy, cranky, and cantankerous than ever…and to add to these flaws, he is ever being jaded, made cynical, and disgusted with himself, and with every other self he knows too, much of the time.  But the Cross prevails, and the Spirit Quickens to ongoing Life, Eternal Life, and as said Peter, when the Lord asked if they would leave Him too, “Where would we go, for you have the words of eternal life?” (see John 6:68)

The Rapture of the Saints is a cardinal and essential doctrine of the Faith, delivered by the Lord and his Apostles and necessarily True if his own Incarnation, Personhood, and Godhood of the Trinity are also true:  It is about Him and taught extensively by Him and by his Apostles, the New Testament.  While many faithful queries may be made as to details, we know from comparing the most essential Scriptures on the matter, that it is ever Imminent (can happen at any time, but will prove to be the exact prescription of divine prophecy when it does occur), and that we are to live our lives as though it could happen at any moment.  Titus 2:11-14 teach us to pursue holy and obedient lives because of this matter.  It will astonish the saints and surprise them, but they will be found watching for it (being busy about his work, “Occupy til I come,” in Luke 19:13).  The world may not even notice it, for it may well occur as nuclear missiles are in the air during the WW3 of Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapters 38 and 39 when “fire will fall upon them who dwell carelessly in the coastlands”— cities and places distant from Israel in the time of that prophet.  It may be a “secret rapture” to them, and they may be slow to assess the sudden departure of the saints in the midst of such potentially global nuclear carnage.  But, even unbelieving, “lip-service” Christendom will miss out on noticing the Rapture’s occurrence —as well as missing it themselves for their disobedience in not watching and believing.  

Many teachers might tout that all such professors of religion “are saved by grace” and will go up whether watching or not, but the New Testament revelations say differently, and that it is the watching and obedient faithful that are really the ones walking in true grace.  Nominal —“name-only” —“Christians” will have the Lord saying to them, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?”  Many of them practice a “license” to sin and live foolishly and call it “grace.”  Perhaps, many will repent after the Rapture and become “the Tribulation saints,” but they will pay terrible costs in betrayal by loved ones and families, by torture and imprisonment and beheading, shows John the Revelator.  See and compare Luke 21:36, Revelation 3:10, and Mark 13:37 for a few potent instances of preparatory instruction to escape in the Rapture among many in the whole tenor of the New Testament.

I may, emphasis MAY, be giving you a key as to the timing of the Rapture during Ezekiel’s WW3 as God lifts his people up just before global nuclear detonations and the terrible suffering following them — and the onset of the Seven Year Tribulation, but here is another key from Scripture:  “But the SAME DAY that Lot went out of Sodom (a type of the Rapture) it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even thus shall it be in THE DAY when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:29-30).  Notice that God will work as long as He wills, but when the work is complete, He will act suddenly and utterly to accomplish his Will for the saints; a sudden and specific DAY will occur.  Again, this is why we should keep our eyes on Him, search his Word in such matters, and keep our hearts, our motivations, and our thoughts ever on Him.  Thus, we will be found watching no matter how stupifying and drowsy the long night of apostasy becomes.  Even the wise virgins nodded-out at the weariness of the night (Matthew 25:5), but they were quick and ready to be awakened and had stored up and provided for Oil for their lamps (a precious, stewarded reserve of the Holy Spirit) when the Midnight Call finally came.  They went in, but the foolish virgins (nominal—in name only—professors of the Faith) missed the Call and were not admitted to this Bridal Supper of the Lamb, which is also the reward of the faithful in Revelation 3:10.

Let us watch in faithfulness and not grow weary.  Lord God, strengthen us.  “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” says Isaiah of the saints in 40:30-31.

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —

(July 2)
A global first on our southern flank, a wildly leftist manifestation of President Trump’s (and surging European) populism — How adversarial will that be?!  Get used to hearing the moniker AMLO, his initials.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-01/mexico-heads-to-polls-with-leftist-on-brink-of-historic-victory
Mexico’s AMLO Sweeps to Power in Historic Left-Wing Landslide
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected as Mexico’s first left-wing president in recent times, riding a public revolt against rampant crime, corruption and poverty and handing a crushing defeat to the business-friendly parties who’ve run the country for decades.
The earliest figures announced by the electoral board gave Lopez Obrador 53 percent of the vote. Ricardo Anaya, leader of a right-left coalition, had about 22 percent and Jose Antonio Meade, the candidate of the incumbent PRI party, took 16 percent.
Long before those official results began to emerge, exit polls had showed Lopez Obrador so far ahead of his two main rivals that they conceded defeat -- and congratulations had begun to pour in from foreign leaders, including Donald Trump. “I look very much forward to working with him,” the U.S. president, who’s repeatedly lambasted Mexico for sending illegal migrants and drugs across the border, said on Twitter.
In a televised address later on Sunday, Lopez Obrador promised “deep changes” and said that while he’ll respect all Mexicans, “we’ll give preference to the poorest, and to the forgotten.” But he made a point of allaying market concerns too, promising to respect the central bank’s autonomy, avoid raising taxes in real terms, and stay within “legal channels” as he reviews oil deals approved under the outgoing president, Enrique Pena Nieto. … …

…but already a strange manifestation of resistance from poor, indigenous populations standing against the election…the chaos of Mexico?

http://news.trust.org/item/20180630120000-8illo
Indigenous Mexicans spurn presidential vote with blockades, bulldozers
NAHUATZEN, Mexico, June 30 (Reuters) - Mexican voters will stream to the polls this Sunday in a pivotal presidential contest, but leaders representing tens of thousands of indigenous people have vowed to block voting in their communities to protest a system they say has failed them.
Polls say Mexico is on the verge of electing its first leftist anti-establishment president in modern history, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But the prospect of change has failed to resonate with inhabitants of small towns nestled in the lush, wooded countryside of southwestern Michoacan state.
Residents here have destroyed campaign signs and set up blockades to prevent the government from delivering ballots. Election officials have declared 16 towns here "unviable," and will not likely risk confrontation to force polling stations to open.
Among the no-go zones is the impoverished hamlet of Nahuatzen, where Purepecha indigenous locals grow avocados and eke out a living on tiny plots. On Thursday, several dozen men, some in cowboy hats, stood vigil near the town's entrance. They had laid a tree trunk across the road to stop outsiders from entering.
"The politicians haven't done anything besides enrich themselves and they've left us behind," said Antonio Arriola, a member of a recently-created indigenous council that has petitioned the Mexican government for autonomy. … …

***
Left and Right take to street fighting in Portland, OR

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/06/portland_police_revoke_permit.html
Portland Police revoke permit, declare riot as protesters clash downtown

Portland Police declared a riot Saturday after tensions between the right-wing Patriot Prayer group and local anti-fascist activists came to a head and broke out in violence.
The afternoon began with a permitted rally at Terry Schrunk Federal Plaza organized by Joey Gibson, U.S. Senate candidate for Washington and leader of the right-wing, Vancouver-based group.
A counter-demonstration by masked local anti-fascist groups gathered nearby among a heavy police presence. Officers seized weapons such as utility knives, clubs and chemical sprays, detaining several protesters early on. … …

***
(July 3)
A man physically altered to appear as a woman is now Spain’s nominee for Miss Universe. (“As in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man.” See Luke 17:28-30) (…whose glory is in their shame” Phil. 3:19)
( …a pretty good imitation, except for the “man hands” as Seinfeld once observed in a similar sitcom scenario)
https://www.advocate.com/people/2018/7/02/trans-woman-makes-history-will-compete-spain-miss-universe
Trans Woman Makes History, Will Compete for Spain in Miss Universe

*** 
Endless fire season developing for western states?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/05/western-states-plagued-by-several-wildfires-thousands-evacuate.html
Western states plagued by several wildfires, thousands evacuate
TROUTDALE, Ore. –  A growing Oregon wildfire covered parts of Portland's metropolitan area Tuesday with ash and forced the shutdown of a lengthy stretch of highway through the state's scenic Columbia River Gorge. It was one of dozens of wildfires burning in western U.S. states that sent smoke into cities from Seattle to Denver -- prompting health warnings and cancellations of outdoor activities for children by many school districts. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, a federal agency that coordinates wildfire-fighting, said 80 large fires were burning on 2,200 square miles in nine Western states. The 16-square mile fire east of Portland forced hundreds of home evacuations. Embers from the fire drifted in the air across the Columbia River -- sparking blazes in neighboring Washington state.
The wildfire grew rapidly late Monday and overnight, giving authorities just minutes to warn residents on the Oregon side of the river to leave their homes. … …
…plus Colorado — (State Report)
https://colorado.gov/pacific/dfpc/current-wildfires
Current Wildfires
***
Praise be to God!  May He get the glory in the full deliverance of these boys found alive, yet in a pagan culture.  His mercy is great!  May the True God be seen and acknowledged in getting these living boys out of this deep tomb.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/twelve-children-football-coach-found-155942074.html
Thailand cave rescue: Junior football team found by British divers could remain underground for months
 ***
Angela in tight political survival situation —

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/07/03/merkel-agrees-to-migrant-camps-tighter-border-control-in-bid-to-stay-in-power.html
Merkel agrees to migrant camps, tighter border control in a bid to stay in power
German Chancellor Angela Markel on Monday balked on her signature immigration policies in a bid to stay in power, agreeing to create border camps for migrants and enforce tighter border control.
The German leader, under whose watch over a million migrants came into the country since 2015, was challenged by her rebellious Bavarian allies who threatened her to change the course of the nation or face the collapse of the delicate coalition government and therefore her leadership. … …

***
Reminiscent of Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”?  “Sure, we can fix the criminal mind; give ‘em a lobotomy!”
https://www.statnews.com/2018/07/02/brain-electric-stimulation-violence/
Can zapping people’s brains reduce violence? Controversial study sees potential
excerpt:  “We’re trying to find benign biological interventions [for criminal violence] that society will accept,” Penn psychologist Adrian Raine, who has studied the brain basis of violence and psychopathy for decades, said in a statement. “Transcranial direct-current stimulation is minimal risk. This isn’t a frontal lobotomy.”

(ed. note:  Lobotomous intentions denied, but the association is there to be denied!)

***
(July 5)
San Francisco, a prince among American Sodoms, sinks into a latrine of its own filth, literally —  May God lift his people there above the filth, not only the literal, but also the moral and spiritual…and deliver them as He delivered righteous Lot.

https://newswars.com/san-francisco-logs-over-16000-feces-complaints-in-one-week
San Francisco Logs Over 16,000 Feces Complaints in One Week
Over 16,000 complaints have been logged with the City of San Francisco regarding ‘feces’ in the last seven days.
A website and related app that allows local residents to request maintenance or non-emergency services from the city has received 16,015 complaints with the keyword ‘feces’ in the last week at the time of this writing, and many pertain to human waste in public places.
Additionally, words and phrases synonymous with ‘feces’ are found in thousands more grievances.
Many of the complaints also connect the fecal matter to vagrants and homeless encampments - a sight all too common now across California.
Users can geotag the location in question, and also provide photos to support their claim.
“Homeless encampment is blocking sidewalk and creates a health hazard w trash and feces,” writes one user. “Please move them, and send a cleaning crew. Sidewalk is impassable, forcing pedestrians into the street.”
“Homeless individuals sleeping along Funston between Clement and Geary,” writes another user.  “Observed homeless people shooting up at 5pm on Monday, July 2nd. Lots of feces and garbage in the area. Please clean up area and see if homeless individuals need services.” … …

***
Even utterly pagan Hinduism must front some kind of its own conservative fundamentalism to keep societal order.   But here, morally outraged Hindus are duped by Social Media to commit lynchings based on its aggravating reports.  Social Media, the (s)pawn of the Beast?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/india-slams-whatsapp-over-deadly-rumours-050022052.html
WhatsApp 'horrified' over India lynchings, promises action
WhatsApp said Wednesday it was "horrified" by a spate of lynchings in India sparked by false rumours shared on its platform as the government accused the messaging service of irresponsibility.
More than 20 people have been killed in India in the last two months, according to media reports, after rumours were spread on smartphones about child kidnappers, thieves and sexual predators. … …

***
(July 6)
True, objective science is a dutiful exploration of God’s creation in the light of our fallen necessities, but the common atheism which passes for science is full of dogma/interpretation, vested interests, and egotism.  Ever notice how the media reporting runs in cycles?  Everything from Vitamin E to coffee to beer and wine, to eggs, to aspirin, etc., etc., has its moments of “scientific discovery” of its goodness, vitality, etc. and then a few weeks or months later a contrary spate of accusations that it “causes cancer,” etc.  And back and forth it goes as true science is subjected to marketing whims, etc.  (The wise “take notes,” seek God in his Word, and walk in moderation.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/beware-those-scientific-studies-most-wrong-researcher-warns-164336076.html
Beware those scientific studies -- most are wrong, researcher warns
Washington (AFP) - A few years ago, two researchers took the 50 most-used ingredients in a cook book and studied how many had been linked with a cancer risk or benefit, based on a variety of studies published in scientific journals.
The result? Forty out of 50, including salt, flour, parsley and sugar. "Is everything we eat associated with cancer?" the researchers wondered in a 2013 article based on their findings.
Their investigation touched on a known but persistent problem in the research world: too few studies have large enough samples to support generalized conclusions.
But pressure on researchers, competition between journals and the media's insatiable appetite for new studies announcing revolutionary breakthroughs has meant such articles continue to be published.
"The majority of papers that get published, even in serious journals, are pretty sloppy," said John Ioannidis, professor of medicine at Stanford University, who specializes in the study of scientific studies.
This sworn enemy of bad research published a widely cited article in 2005 entitled: "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False."
Since then, he says, only limited progress has been made. … …
***
(July 7)
NBC’s Today Show on Saturday morning reports “massive fires out of control” for the Western regions and coast.  Los Angeles broke a former heat record of 96 degrees yesterday with a new record 12 degrees higher (!) at 108 degrees. May the Lord mercifully protect his own there.  I pray for some I know there.

***
(July  8)
Euthanasia by another name — Palliative Sedation — is now widely practiced. Surely, it must seem to be a mercy in many cases, but does it break the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shall do no murder”  (The Lord’s take on the Commandment, Matthew 19:18)?
http://www.post-gazette.com/aging-edge/aging-edge-reports/2018/07/05/Palliative-sedation-an-end-of-life-practice-that-is-legal-everywhere/stories/201807050128
Palliative sedation, an end-of-life practice that is legal everywhere

***
“Nature” rages in Japan. Along the same coasts, the Thai boys face monsoon season.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44749847
Japan floods: At least 60 killed in deluges and landslides
Flooding and landslides have killed at least 60 people and left dozens missing in western areas of Japan.
Most of the deaths have occurred in Hiroshima prefecture, which has been hit by torrential rain since Thursday. Hundreds of homes have been damaged.
About 1.5 million people have been ordered to leave their homes and three million more advised to do so.
Authorities say it could potentially be the worst weather disaster Japan has seen in decades.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the authorities were facing a "race against time" to save and evacuate people.
Thousands of police, firefighters and soldiers are taking part in search-and-rescue operations.
Some of the victims have been buried alive by landslides, Japan's Kyodo news agency reports.
In the town of Motoyama, about 600km (370 miles) west of the capital Tokyo, 583mm (23in) of rain fell between Friday morning and Saturday morning, Japan's meteorological agency said.

***
https://chochilino.com/record-heat-in-southern-california-and-an-ominous-start-to-wildfire-season/
Record Heat in Southern California, and an Ominous Start to Wildfire Season

LOS ANGELES — After a temperate early summer and a balmy Fourth of July, Southern California residents abruptly found themselves in a caldron of triple-digit temperatures and wildfires this weekend.
Firefighters across the region battled several blazes through the night Friday into Saturday, as an unseasonable heat wave set records in some places and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in Los Angeles. … …

***

Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up 
together with them in the clouds,
To meet the Lord in the air:
And so shall we be ever with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I Thessalonians 4:17, 18

***********************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

July 1

Saints,

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”  (Luke 17:26-30)

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —

(June 25)
Well, it went this way (see prayers and watching at last blog issue): Erdogan wins big though with election fraud concerns.  Is he the puppet-prophet of Gog?  We shall see.  Watch and pray.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/world/europe/turkey-election-erdogan.html
Erdogan’s Election Win Gives Him Vastly Expanded Powers in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish voters gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a decisive victory in national elections on Sunday, lengthening his 15-year grip on power and granting him vastly expanded authority over the legislature and judiciary.
The election was the first to be held since Turkish voters narrowly approved a referendum last year to give the president — once a largely ceremonial role — sweeping executive powers. Mr. Erdogan will also have a pliant Parliament, with his conservative party and its allies having won about 53 percent of the vote in legislative elections on Sunday.
Mr. Erdogan has overseen a crackdown on lawyers, judges, civil servants and journalists under a state of emergency declared after a failed coup of two years ago. His critics had portrayed Sunday’s election as their last chance to prevent Turkey from becoming an authoritarian state.
The victory has potentially grave consequences for cooperation within NATO, security in Iraq and Syria, and control of immigration flows into Europe. … …

***

“Eternal Life” through bio-tech?  Sure, the health advances will no doubt be touted, but what of the dystopian ones…ongoing bodily regeneration without the Sin problem being solved?  The Devil’s ideas of “heavenly” > perpetual-living end up being a living Hell. He is always proposing false heavens.  Another instance: says the Lord, “no marrying nor giving in marriage in the Resurrection,” but the Devil brings in total sodomite derangement, “trans-this” and “trans-that” as a sort of neutered attempt at a proposed “universally inclusive” utopia, and on and on it goes, one infernal delusion after another.

https://newatlas.com/3d-printed-human-organs-capillaries/55173/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-25%20143417%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-25%20144453%20Adobes%20new%20AI%20can%20identify%20altered%20images&utm_content=2018-06-25%20143417%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-25%20144453%20Adobes%20new%20AI%20can%20identify%20altered%20images+CID_748819fc826c0942a5b06c52921c5d80&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
New tech allows much faster 3D-printing of human tissue with capillaries
Prellis Biologics has brought the science fiction dream of printing human organs for transplant a step forward by developing a fast, high-resolution 3D printing technique that can produce living tissue that includes viable blood-carrying capillaries. The new technique allows the cells to receive enough oxygen and nutrients to survive while building up complex structures.
***

Sweden, rushing into Transhumanism says this piece, seems to want to be in the front of the line for the Mark of the Beast?

http://nationalpost.com/news/world/thousands-of-swedes-are-inserting-microchips-into-themselves-heres-why
Thousands of Swedes are inserting microchips into themselves – here’s why
They've been inserting NFC chips somewhere between the thumb and the index finger. These are the same microchips that have been used to track animals and packages
Thousands of people in Sweden have inserted microchips, which can function as contactless credit cards, key cards and even rail cards, into their bodies. Once the chip is underneath your skin, there is no longer any need to worry about misplacing a card or carrying a heavy wallet. But for many people, the idea of carrying a microchip in their body feels more dystopian than practical. … …

*** 
(June 26)
Concerns for our local region here in Vermont and northern New England — Putting aside the usual chatter about “50 million years,” could this be a Tribulation-era judgment preparing itself, rising in this unexpected, geologically stable area?  This is a second report on this deep, developing phenomenon after the first note and link some blogs back.  For spiritual observers who might be aware of the dark horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, he spoke of terrors deep in the mountains of Vermont, a force and being and power he called “C’thu’lu.  His prophecies, of course, are not of God but from the darkness.  Obedient believers have no fear, but we do know that a day comes when “every mountain shall be laid low and every valley exalted” and the surface of the Earth may turn to a bubbling cauldron of hot mud, rock and death as this Age ends. (“Fire and brimstone” refers to volcanic action and striking lightning, brimstone being sulfurous melted rock. “Something wicked this way comes”?)
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/06/25/new-supervolcano-is-brewing-under-massachusetts-vermont-and-new-hampshire.html
A new supervolcano is brewing under Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire
Something unexpected has been gradually making itself known to geologists in the United States. A huge mass of molten rock is creeping upwards beneath the nation’s north eastern states.
“The upwelling we detected is like a hot-air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England,” says Rutgers University geophysicist Professor Vadim Levin. 

***
Will any demise of the Bilderbergers be a proffered satanic sacrifice to resurface the One-World Government of Antichrist by a new subversion?
https://www.mintpressnews.com/bilderberg-era-end/244731/
It’s the Beginning of the End of the Bilderberg Era
Like him or hate him, President Trump has played a major part, if only by saying the unsayable.
The beginning of the end of the Bilderberg/Soros vision is in sight. The Old Order will cling on, even to the last of its fingernails. The Bilderberg vision is the notion of multi-cultural, international cosmopolitanism that surpasses old-time nationalism; heralding the end of frontiers; and leading toward a US-led, ‘technocratic’, global economic and political governance. Its roots lie with figures such as James Burnham, an anti-Stalin, former Trotskyite, who, writing as early as 1941, advocated for the levers of financial and economic power being placedin the hands of a management class: an élite – which alone would be capable of running the contemporary state – thanks to this élite’s market and financial technical nous. It was, bluntly, a call for an expert, technocratic oligarchy.
Burnham renounced his allegiance to Trotsky and Marxism, in all its forms in 1940, but he would take the tactics and strategies for infiltration and subversion, (learned as a member of Leon Trotsky’s inner circle) with him, and would elevate the Trotskyist management of ‘identity politics’ to become the fragmentation ‘device’ primed to explode national culture onto a new stage, in the Western sphere. His 1941 book, “The Managerial Revolution,” caught the attention of Frank Wisner, subsequently, a legendary CIA figure, who saw in the works of Burnham and his colleague a fellow Trotskyite, Sidney Hook, the prospect of mounting an effective alliance of former Trotskyites against Stalinism.
But, additionally, Wisner perceived its merits as the blueprint for a CIA-led, pseudo-liberal, US-led global order. (‘Pseudo’, because, as Burnham articulated clearly, in The Machiavellians, Defenders of Freedom,  his version of freedom meant anything but intellectual freedom or those freedoms defined by America’s Constitution. “What it really meant was conformity and submission”).
In short, (as Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould have noted), “by 1947, James Burnham’s transformation from Communist radical, to New World Order American conservative was complete. His Struggle for the World, [converted into a memo for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the forerunner of CIA)], had done a ‘French Turn’ on Trotsky’s permanent Communist revolution, and turned it into a permanent battle plan for a global American empire. All that was needed to complete Burnham’s dialectic was a permanent enemy, and that would require a sophisticated psychological campaign to keep the hatred of Russia alive, “for generations”.
What has this to do with us today? A ‘Burnham Landscape’ of apparently, ‘centrist’ European political parties, apparently independent think-tanks, institutions, and NATO structures, was seeded by CIA – in the post war era of anti-Sovietism – across Europe, and the Middle East – as part of Burnham’s ‘battle plan’ for a US-led, global ‘order’. It is precisely this élite: i.e. Burnham’s oligarchic technocracy, that is facing political push-back today to the point at which the Liberal Order feels that it is struggling for its very survival against “the enemy in the White House”, as the editor of Spiegel Online has termed President Trump.
What has caused this? Well, like him or hate him, President Trump has played a major part, if only by saying the unsayable. The rationality or not inherent in these Eckhart-style ‘unsayings’, or apophasis, is beside the point: Trump’s intuitive ‘discourse of saying the unsayable’ has taken most of the bolts out of the former Burnham-type, ideological structure.
But in Europe, two main flaws to the Burnham blueprint have contributed, possibly fatally,  to the blueprint crisis: Firstly, the policy of populating Europe with immigrants, as a remedy for Europe’s adverse demographics (and to dilute to the point of erasure, its national cultures): “Far from leading to fusion”, writes British historian, Niall Ferguson, “Europe’s migration crisis is leading to fission. The play might be called The Meltdown Pot … Increasingly … the issue of migration will be seen by future historians as the fatal solvent of the EU. In their accounts Brexit will appear as merely an early symptom of the crisis”. And secondly, the bi-furcation of the economy into two unrelated, and dis-equal economies, as a result of the élite’s mismanagement of the global economy, (i.e. the obvious the absence of ‘prosperity for all’).
Trump evidently has heard the two key messages from his constituency: that they neither accept to have (white) American culture, and its way-of-life, diluted through immigration; and, neither do they wish – stoically – to accommodate to America’s eclipse by China. … …

***
Two NYTimes Breaking News Notes on the 26th — Good News!  

Don’t want to be racist, xenophobic, or nationalistic to any extreme, but the very fundamental tenets of this religion are violent death to any who will not receive it.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 10:27 AM EST
President Trump’s travel ban is lawful, the Supreme Court ruled.  The 5-4 decision is a major statement on presidential power.
President Trump acted lawfully in imposting travel from several predominantly Muslim nations, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

associated story from Sunday a.m.: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/30/us/politics/first-amendment-conservatives-supreme-court.html?emc=edit_th_180701&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980701
And...
The Supreme Court blocked a California law requiring “crisis pregnancy centers” to tell women about abortion options, on First Amendment grounds
A state law requiring “crisis pregnancy centers” to supply women with information about abortion most likely violates the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in blocking the law.
The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s most conservative justices in the majority.

***
California is burning again —
https://earther.com/northern-california-is-burning-up-again-182710983
Northern California Is Burning Up Again
Destructive wildfires have lit up Northern California less than a year after 2017's record-setting wildfire season.
Three large fires are burning, serving as yet another reminder of the dangers of living in wildfire prone areas, especially as the climate changes.
The fires began this weekend riding the back of hot, windy weather that almost always portends fire danger in the West. The largest fire currently burning is the Pawnee Fire  in Lake County. As of yesterday, that blaze was uncontained. By Monday morning, the fire had destroyed at least 22 homes and burned through 8,200 acres just south of Mendocino National Forest according to CAL-FIRE.

	
***
(June 27)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/austria-deploys-police-troops-immigration-exercise-border-130118812.html
Austria deploys police and troops for immigration exercise on border

SPIELFELD, Austria (Reuters) - Austria deployed police, soldiers and Black Hawk military helicopters on Tuesday in an exercise, overseen by the far-right interior minister, which enacted the arrival of hundreds of migrants on its border with Slovenia.
The drill, designed to show Austria's preparedness for any repeat of Europe's migration crisis, dovetailed with the right-wing government's efforts to discourage migrants from setting off to find a home in central Europe. … …

***
(June 29) 
A Charlie Hebdo type assault is made on a newspaper office in Annapolis — 5 dead. Gunmen had “erased,” burnt off, his own fingerprints and refused to ID himself, but facial recognition ID’d him.  He was on a personal vendetta against the paper.

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html
Five dead in 'targeted attack' at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, police say; Laurel man charged with murder
A gunman blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis with a shotgun Thursday afternoon, killing five people, authorities said.
Journalists dived under their desks and pleaded for help on social media. One reporter described the scene as a “war zone.” A photographer said he jumped over a dead colleague and fled for his life. … … (two were also injured)… …

***
(June 30)
The Drone Wars Begin — Drone against Drone via AI robotics
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173039-the-us-has-an-anti-drone-gun-that-shoots-drones-at-other-drones/
The US has an anti-drone gun that shoots drones at other drones
***
Star Wars Approaching —
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/06/pentagon-intelligence-chief-russia-and-china-will-have-weapons-space-near-future/149335/?oref=d-channelriver
Pentagon Intelligence Chief: Russia And China Will Have Weapons in Space ‘In the Near Future’
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s director says the U.S. lead in space is diminishing and tomorrow’s skies will be filled with enemy robot satellites.
Russia and China are developing new space-based weapons and they’ll be ready “in the near future,” Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Tuesday at the Defense One Technology Summit in Washington, D.C. … …

***
The first R2D2 will soon befriend/assist astronauts with its Artificial Intelligence, floating along beside them on the Space Station, an orb with an expressive face. 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/robot-artificial-intelligence-invade-space-210554635.html
Robot with artificial intelligence about to invade space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A robot with true artificial intelligence is about to invade space.
The large, round, plastic robot head is part of SpaceX's latest supply delivery to the International Space Station. … …
***
Invisibility Cloaks coming online — as in Frodo’s elfin cape in Lord of the Rings that hid him from the orcs —
https://newatlas.com/thermal-camouflage-material/55229/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-28%20143322%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-28%20144058%20Elon%20Musk%20asks%20for%20development%20ideas%20for%20Tesla%20Pickup%20Truck&utm_content=2018-06-28%20143322%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-28%20144058%20Elon%20Musk%20asks%20for%20development%20ideas%20for%20Tesla%20Pickup%20Truck+CID_5514c0bf9a97af376d85947fb32901cb&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Thermal%20camouflage%20material%20will%20hide%20your%20heat
Thermal camouflage material will hide your heat
In the movie Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger hid from an alien's night vision system by covering himself in mud. He might have found things much easier, however, if he'd had access to a newly-developed thermal camouflage material.
Developed by an international team led by the University of Manchester's Coskun Kocabas, the thin, light, flexible material is made up of three layers. The top layer is in turn composed of multiple sub-layers of graphene (a one-atom-thick sheet of linked carbon atoms), and it serves as an electrode. The bottom layer, which is also an electrode – but of the opposite polarity – is made of heat-resistant nylon coated with gold. Between these two electrode layers is a membrane which is soaked in an ionic liquid (salt in a liquid state) that contains both positively- and negatively-charged ions.When a small electrical current is applied to the material, the ions temporarily travel from the membrane and into the graphene. Within a matter of seconds, this drastically reduces the amount of infrared radiation (IR) emitted through the surface of the material. Most night vision cameras utilize a thermal imaging system, which detects such radiation – the amount of IR that's emitted by an object (such as a human body) is directly proportional to how warm that object is. … …

***
God save us from the breaking uncivil discord that could lead to extreme civil disorder / skirmish / war.  First Amendment Free Speech is now seen more and more as a crime by many.
An evening Breaking News notice by the NYTimes —
Conservatives are “weaponizing the First Amendment” to justify unlimited campaign spending, discrimination and attacks on regulations
Saturday, June 30, 2018 5:55 PM EST
On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm.
The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law requiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion.
Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.”
The two decisions were the latest in a stunning run of victories for a conservative agenda that has increasingly been built on the foundation of free speech… . …
(associated story from Sunday a.m.: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/30/us/politics/first-amendment-conservatives-supreme-court.html?emc=edit_th_180701&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980701

***

“And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart;
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
And when thou walkest by the way,
And when thou liest down,
And when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 6: 6,7

************************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

June 24

Saints,

We live in a time Jeremiah describes as “confusion of faces” (7:18-20) when idolaters of every kind and stripe demand a full “inclusion” of every demonic device.  Says the Almighty through John the Revelator, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)  May God grant us endurance in these time of the ascent Mystery Babylon and ever aid us in being “in the world but not of the world.”

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world through the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —

(June 18)
What happens when over 1 billion people run out of water?

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/india-faces-worst-water-crisis-niti-aayog/article24165708.ece
India faces worst water crisis: NITI Aayog

Demand for potable water will outstrip supply by 2030, says study
The NITI Aayog on Thursday released the results of a study warning that India is facing its ‘worst’ water crisis in history and that demand for potable water will outstrip supply by 2030 if steps are not taken.
Nearly 600 million Indians faced high to extreme water stress and about 2,00,000 people died every year due to inadequate access to safe water. Twenty-one cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people, the study noted. If matters are to continue, there will be a 6% loss in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050, the report says.
70% contaminated
Moreover, critical groundwater resources, which accounted for 40% of India’s water supply, are being depleted at “unsustainable” rates and up to 70% of India’s water supply is “contaminated,” the report says. … …

***
Father God Knows Best —
http://www.cetusnews.com/life/Opinion-%7C-The-Bacteria-Babies-Need.ryPTgZIodEZQ.html
Opinion | The Bacteria Babies Need

We may be missing the key to one of the biggest boons to public health since the introduction of iodine into the food supply in 1924.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found that a strain of bacteria called B. infantis that is thought to have been the dominant bacterium in the infant gut for all of human history is disappearing from the Western world. According to their research, this was probably caused by the rise in cesarean births, the overuse of antibiotics and the use of infant formula in place of breast milk.
Indeed, nine out of 10 American babies don’t harbor this bacterium in their gut, while researchers suspect that the majority of infants in less industrialized countries do.
Bruce German, a professor of food science and technology and one of the U.C. Davis researchers, says, “The central benefits of having a microbiota dominated by B. infantis is that it crowds all the other guys out” — especially pathogenic bacteria, which can cause both acute illnesses and chronic inflammation that leads to disease.

Studies suggest that by the time babies without B. infantis are children, they are more likely to have allergies and Type 1 diabetes and more likely to be overweight. This change to the infant gut may be at the root of the rising prevalence of diseases and ailments, from allergies to certain cancers.
Dr. German and his colleagues learned about the missing bacterium by studying breast milk. They found that the milk contains an abundance of oligosaccharides, carbohydrates that babies are incapable of digesting. Why would they be there if babies can’t digest them?
They realized that these carbohydrates weren’t feeding the baby — they were feeding B. infantis.
What can new mothers do to ensure that their babies have this beneficial bacterium? At the moment, nothing.
If you live in the industrialized world, you probably can’t pass B. infantis on to your baby. Not even if you give birth vaginally, breast-feed exclusively and eat well.

B. infantis is not the only endangered bacterium in the West, and babies aren’t the only ones affected. By studying mice, researchers at Stanford have found that a lack of dietary fiber — which is missing from most processed foods — results in the loss of important bacterial strains.
Once these strains are gone, the only way to get them back will be to deliberately reintroduce them.
In a study funded by a company that plans to do just that, Dr. German and colleagues fed B. infantis to breast-fed babies. They found that it took over the entire lower intestine, crowding out pathogenic bacteria.
Although it’s too early to know if these babies will turn out to be healthier than their peers, the hope is that the presence of B. infantis for the first year or two of life will help prevent colic, allergies, asthma, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancers later in life.
Dr. German envisions a future when it will be common for us to add the bacterium to some of our foods, much as we did with iodine.
But just inoculating babies with B. infantis won’t be enough. We should also give their mothers the opportunity to breast-feed.
The bacterium can’t survive without the carbohydrates it depends on. While companies are trying to figure out how to add oligosaccharides into infant formula, it will be very difficult to replicate the complexity and concentration of the carbohydrates that are naturally present in breast milk.

While the decision to breast-feed is often framed as a personal choice, most women have no choice. Only 15 percent of workers and 4 percent of the lowest-paid workers in the United States have access to paid family leave, which means they often can’t afford to stay home with a newborn.
Many other nations — like Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Slovakia — manage to provide working parents with more than a year’s worth of paid family leave.
We should do the same. It’s not just about better personal health, but about better public health, which has been in decline in this country for decades.
We’d also be wise to heed these findings on the microbiota as a harbinger of what’s to come. The promotion of infant formula in place of breast milk, and our reliance on processed foods into adulthood, have had some unforeseen and frightening repercussions for our health. The industrialization of our food supply is changing us from the inside out.

***
The antichrist sickness of the “Trans-Culture:”  woman becomes breast-less, bearded “man” while still pregnant; the biological father is becoming a “woman” in the meantime.  God is not mocked.  How much easier to have had the child in their authentic genders?! What costs of judgment will they incur?  What of the poor child, born of a biological female who has filled itself with testosterone while it carries the fetus?
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2340
Fathers Day Confusion As Trans Mothers Want to Be Fathers
In what might be the most ridiculous Father's Day article ever, CNN recently ran a piece titled, "He gave birth. He breastfed. Now, he wants his son to see him as a man."
As noted by Hank Berrien at the Daily Wire, "Just in time for Father's Day, CNN brings you the story of a biological female who refers to herself as a transgender man who, after taking testosterone to 'transition,' conceived a child with a man who was 'transitioning' into a transgender woman but stopped taking hormones long enough that they could conceive a son." … …

*** 
(June 19)
Poor, sad, clueless humanity, in this case Americans.  None of us knows but very little and only those who will receive God’s revelations of Truth to us have any real inkling of Truth.  “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.  But if any man love God, the same is known of him.”  (Paul to the Corinthians, 1:8:2-3.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/americans-grapple-recognizing-facts-news-stories-pew-survey-140456645.html
Americans grapple with recognizing facts in news stories: Pew survey
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Only a quarter of U.S. adults in a recent survey could fully identify factual statements - as opposed to opinion - in news stories, the Pew Research Center found in a study released on Monday. … …

***
(June 20)
Civil Insurrection in Socialist Nicaragua —

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Nicaraguan-city-chooses-to-govern-itself-as-13005485.php
Nicaraguan city chooses to govern itself as crisis intensifies

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA - Amid the deepening political crisis in Nicaragua, opposition leaders from a key city that had once cradled President Daniel Ortega's socialist revolution on Monday announced that they do not recognize Ortega's leadership and that they would create a commission to self-govern the city.
The town of Masaya, about 15 miles south of the capital city of Managua, was a bastion of support for Ortega and his Sandinista rebels who overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979. For the past few weeks, Masaya has been controlled by protesters, a warren of citizen-manned roadblocks and barricades, with city hall abandoned and police hunkered down in their barracks.
Those protest leaders now say they don't recognize Ortega's government, which they blame for the deaths of more than 200 people over the past two months. Instead, a five-member "junta of national salvation" will govern Masaya, seeking to administer a city, including cleaning up trash and restocking food in a city of blocked streets.

"What we are doing is making it official," Yubrank Suazo, a coordinator of the protest movement in Masaya, said of the new governing commission. "In fact, Masaya has not recognized this government for weeks.”… …

***
(June 21)
Is Crime way up or way down?  Depends on who you listen too, as migration debate soars and a reported 65 million are on the move.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/immigration-fears-fuel-crisis-western-politics-014823922.html
Immigration fears fuel crisis in Western politics
Washington (AFP) - One issue now dominates political debate within the major Western democracies, and that one issue could now divide the West upon itself: migration.
Donald Trump is trying to ride a tide of anti-immigration feeling to a victory for his Republican supporters in the US mid-term elections in November.
Angela Merkel is hoping to rise above the waves with her shaky German coalition intact, without ceding too much ground to the hardline mood.
New coalition governments in Austria and Italy have brought hardline voices from the fringe of the migration debate into the halls of power.
Australia is battling criticism of its policy of detaining asylum seekers who arrive by sea offshore in camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Through it all, Western political rifts have been exacerbated by a raucous online debate allegedly amplified by covert Russian propaganda.
Behind the electoral posturing and the weaponized disinformation, there are real trends with real human and real political consequences. … …

***
Giants stumble —

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/20/starbucks-burned-social-justice-appeasement-growth/
Starbucks burned by social-justice appeasement as growth stalls, stock plunges
Coffee giant to shutter 150 stores next year instead of 50
Starbucks may have appeased progressives with its social-justice workshops and open-bathroom policy, but such moves have failed to caffeinate the company’s bottom line.
The coffee giant’s stock took a tumble Wednesday after CEO Kevin Johnson announced that Starbucks would close 150 company-owned stores next year instead of the expected 50, with an emphasis on underperforming shops in densely populated urban areas, and lowered growth projections.
 Mr Jonson acknowledged that the decision to shut down 8,000 U.S. stores on May 29 for anti-bias training, driven by the high-profile arrests of two black men in Philadelphia, played a role in the company’s sluggish second-quarter performance. … …
***

Within the Ranks? —

http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/20/socialist-activist-kirstjen-nielsen-doj/
SOCIALIST ACTIVIST WHO HARASSED HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY WORKS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One of the activists who chased Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen out of a Mexican restaurant Tuesday night over the Trump administration’s immigration policies is an employee of the Department of Justice, The Daily Caller News Foundation has confirmed.
Members of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America crashed Nielsen’s meal with a demonstration full of chants and other outbursts.
One of those participants, Allison Hrabar, actually works for the Trump administration — as a paralegal in the DOJ.
“Kirstjen Nielsen, you’re a villain, locking up immigrant children,” activists can be heard saying in a video.
An employee within the Trump administration initially tipped TheDCNF off about Hrabar’s presence at the protest.
The Washington Examiner spoke with Hrabar Wednesday and she defended her behavior as off government time and a use of her First Amendment rights.
“If you see these people in public, you should remind them that they shouldn’t have peace,” she told The Examiner.  “We aren’t the only ones who can do this. Anyone who sees Kirstjen Nielsen at dinner, anyone who sees anyone who works at DHS and ICE at dinner can confront them like this, and that’s what we hope this will inspire people to do.” … …

***
(June 22)
Remember Attorney General Jeff Sessions in your prayers.

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2018/june/i-dont-think-it-was-an-extreme-position-i-took-jeff-sessions-on-the-bible-immigration-and-his-critics
‘I Don’t Think It Was an Extreme Position I took’: Jess Sessions on the Bible, Immigration and His Critics
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed some of the criticism he and the White House have received in recent weeks regarding the administration's immigration policy in an exclusive interview Thursday with CBN News.
Sessions was personally criticized when he quoted scripture to justify separating families at the southern border, something CBN's David Brody asked him about.
"I don't think it was an extreme position that I took," said Sessions. "I directed it not to say that religion requires these laws on immigration. I just simply said to my Christian friends, 'You know, the United States has laws and I believe that Paul was clear in Romans that we should try to follow the laws of government of which we are a part.'"
Sessions alluded to the Bible again when he discussed the morality of immigration law.
"I believe, strongly, that it is moral, decent and just for a nation to have a lawful system of immigration," Sessions said. "I'm not aware of a single nation in the world that doesn't have some sort of rules about who can enter and who cannot enter. I believe there is biblical support for that, too."
Sessions told Brody that all of the criticism has not gone unfelt, especially the criticism coming from his Christian brothers and sisters.
"It is painful," Sessions said. "I am pretty well resolved that we try to consider the concerns that people have if they're legitimate."
"I have critics from a lot of different areas. I think our church people are really concerned about children – that's what I'm hearing," he added. "I feel it. I think there's a legitimate concern there and I'm pleased to work with the president to address those concerns." … …

***
(June 23)
Is California making the preaching of repentance illegal?

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2344
California Bill Will Outlaw Churches Helping People Out Of LGBT Lifestyle
The state of California is close to passing a law that would use consumer protection regulations to control the information presented by churches under the guise of protecting Californians from fraud. 
Bill AB 2943, which has passed several rounds of committee votes and amendments as well as the assembly and will be voted on by the state senate on June 25th, would specifically ban any religious organization from providing assistance to those struggling with gender identity. … …

***
New Cyborg artificial skin transmits senses of touch and pain for prosthetic limbs and may be the humanizing of robots and half-robot, half-human cyborgs.  Are “Ahnold’s” Terminator and Galactica’s advanced, human-appearing cyborgs coming to life?
https://newatlas.com/electronic-skin-touch-pain-edermis/55162/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-22%20143843%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-22%20144954%20Study%20finds%20new%20mechanism%20explaining%20ketamines%20antidepressant%20effects&utm_content=2018-06-22%20143843%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-22%20144954%20Study%20finds%20new%20mechanism%20explaining%20ketamines%20antidepressant%20effects+CID_b15aaea1711d5e1143b2dc66dc90291f&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Electronic%20skin%20lets%20any%20prosthesis%20feel%20touch%20and%20pain
Electronic skin lets any prosthesis feel touch and pain
Researchers have developed an "e-dermis" or electronic skin that could be applied to a prosthetic hand to give the wearer a sense of touch. By using electronic sensors that mimic the nerve endings in the body, the skin can convey both the senses of touch and of pain.
The skin is made of a combination of fabric and rubber, into which the electronic sensors are embedded. The technology isn't invasive, but relays sensation through the wearer's skin using a method known as TENS, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation – a process that needs hours of mapping of the subject's nerve endings. … …

***
(June 24)
How near is America to Civil Insurrection?  “Pray for those in authority…” (for their very safety).  “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  How utterly polarized has American society become when “liberalism” (originally, graciousness) turns bloody and violent for its “inclusion causes,” and turns against anyone who disagrees with its dogmas/interpretations?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/22/protesters-descend-kirstjen-nielsens-home-no-justi/
Protesters descend on Kirstjen Nielsen's home: 'No justice, no sleep'
A group of protesters gathered outside Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Virginia townhouse Friday morning, chanting “no justice, no sleep” and blaring audio of immigrant children crying.
About two dozen protesters with the progressive group CREDO Action chanted with megaphones, waved signs that read “child snatcher” and played the ProPublica audio clip of immigrant children being separated from their parents at the border, HuffPost reported. 
Ms. Nielsen was forced to walk by protesters shouting “Shame!” when she left her house, according to video posted on social media. One man shouted, “You belong in the Hague!” and, “You’re a modern-day Nazi!” as Ms. Nielsen entered her vehicle and left. … …
http://www.tmz.com/2018/06/23/sarah-huckabee-sanders-restaurant-thrown-out-moral-grounds-trump/
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Kicked Out of Restaurant…on Moral Grounds
A restaurant owner in Lexington, Virginia kicked Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her party out of his restaurant ... on moral grounds.
The waiter at The Red Hen said, "I just served Sarah Huckabee Sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members."
Others say the owner didn't want Huckabee Sanders in the restaurant out of "moral conviction."

***
Consider keeping your home as free of internet connected devices as possible.  It may even be wisdom to turn off phones and place in remote location (closet, drawer, etc.) and shut down computers for quiet times and at night.  Quietly resist the Beast.  Notice that its powers may divide homes and exacerbate natural relational issues.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/technology/smart-home-devices-domestic-abuse.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998ries&ref=cta
Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse
SAN FRANCISCO — The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy.
One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.
Their stories are part of a new pattern of behavior in domestic abuse cases tied to the rise of smart home technology. Internet-connected locks, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras that have been marketed as the newest conveniences are now also being used as a means for harassment, monitoring, revenge and control.
In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers — using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices — would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse. … …

***
Erdogan has seemed to be a rising star in the spirit of Antichrist, a hater of Christians and of Christ.  Will he be the head of the caliphate among those in the shadow of Gog and Magog, or will another later?  Thanks be to God that his hand restrains and controls the leaders of this world.  Pray with me even now that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven” this day in this matter.  The election is happening as this blog issue goes to press.  God spare many in Turkey and protect his followers there.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-06-24/polls-open-in-turkeys-high-stakes-elections?src=usn_fl
Erdogan Seeks to Cement Power in Turkey's High-Stakes Votes
Turkey is holding presidential and parliamentary elections that could consolidate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grip on power or curtail his vast political ambitions.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey held high-stakes presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday that could consolidate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grip on power or curtail his vast political ambitions. Opposition leaders cast their ballots vowing to be vigilant against voting fraud. … …

***

The entrance of thy words giveth light; 
it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalm 119:130

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

June 17

Saints,

A very trying hour has come upon the Earth, and it gets worse daily if not hourly.  But God is in his Heaven, sees all, and only allows what must come to finish his work in his Creation and Redemption (and in his Judgment).  So…

“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being!”  

God is One God, the Eternal and Infinite Personal Being; He infinitely predates all other things and created all else, “ex nihilio,” out of nothing.  He is One God in Three Persons, each a full and complete Person but in Divine Unity and Perfect Harmony, each with the other Two, a Harmony so profound we can only admire it and not achieve it or understand it. Each of the Persons of God is fully God, and Yet All Three are The One God. This is the Highest Mystery.  It is shown to us by his revelation to us.  We are granted the power to believe it, and we can illustrate it imperfectly by observations of the natural, even our own beings as bodies, souls, and spirits—three—and by many other natural illustrations, but it is yet infinitely beyond us, and we only receive what is given to us to know.  (“And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.  But if any man love God, the same is known of him.” —Paul to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 8:2-3.  Praise God, that that is sufficient — His Love for Us! not our full comprehension of Him! Just love Him and we are known to Him!  That will do!  Yes, we are “stewards of the mysteries” in 1 Cor. 4:1, and need to hold them diligently, inquiring reverently, but He can take care of Himself too!  Praise his Name!)

God is Infinite and Eternal.  God the Father invites us to enter into Eternity with Him through the Gospel of His Son and by the ongoing work of his Holy Spirit.  Another Mystery: the moment we enter Eternity as his redeemed ones, we will know all perfectly and know Him face to face, but nevertheless, we will always be coming to know Him more and more fully however Eternity progresses, for we will never exhaust growing in the Knowledge of Him, even when we are face to face, as we are created, we had a beginning, then fell only to be redeemed for Eternal Life, but He is always Eternal.

Therefore:  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” said Paul to the Corinthians in his second letter to them, 4:17.

As we are justified (saved!) solely by faith in Him, which He gives us (Eph. 2:8, 9), let us press on in doing good and proclaiming and demonstrating his great work among us and The Gospel to all until He comes back for us…as He has told us to do.

***
Double P.S.  Happy Father’s Day!  Happily, I will see children and grandchildren this day!  I hope many of you all enjoy this annual remembrance too.

This morning’s publish was ready at 5 a.m., but there is a DSL service provider glitch in this area presently.  I tried all my resets and reboots, and then got a sleepy technician at the 800 number for my service who told me they were working on an area problem presently.  I told him that was actually a relief as I was concerned I just couldn’t find something on my end.  Hopefully, this edition will be enabled to go out soon.  God is good!

Monday Morning:  DSL back up by the local Internet Service Provider!

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —

(June 11)
The spirits of antichrist do not like being denied unfettered access to Europe.  Erdogan threatens and rages.  Indeed, there is no peace between the crescent and the cross.  See last week’s link on Austria’s recent actions.

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/06/10/erdogan-predicts-war-between-the-cross-and-crescent-over-austria-mosque-closures/
Erdogan Predicts ‘War Between the Cross and Crescent’ over Austria Mosque Closures
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Austria’s impending closure of mosques and consequent expulsion of Turkish-funded imams, saying the move is anti-Islamic while promising a response.
“These measures taken by the Austrian prime minister are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul covered by AFP.Austria’s populist government made the announcement on Friday morning at a press conference as part of the governing coalition’s campaign against radical Islamic ideology and the influence of countries like Turkey in the Austrian Islamic community, Kronen Zeitung reports.Media reports that between 40 and 60 imams, including their families, could be expelled in total. The imams all stand accused of receiving funding from abroad. Official investigations have been launched in 11 cases. Two of the imams had already been denied extensions to their residency permits…. …
***
The hatred is so strong they build undersea tunnels to attack Israel.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-says-destroyed-hamas-undersea-tunnel-135948778.html
Israel says it destroyed Hamas undersea tunnel

Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip destroyed a Hamas tunnel giving frogmen unseen access to the sea from their base, the Israeli army said Sunday.
Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters that the tunnel, the first of its kind discovered by Israeli intelligence, was hit on June 3 in the north of the strip as Israeli aircraft pounded over a dozen militant targets in Gaza.
He said it was probable there were more like it not yet located by Israel. … …

***
NYT “Quote of the Day” on the Surveillance Society —

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"It’s not just Big Brother. There’s an infinite number of siblings here."
AMOL SINHA, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, on the Citizen Virtual Patrol program in Newark, which has opened police surveillance cameras to the public.

*** 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-and-the-feud-over-killer-robots/ar-AAyq45U?li=BBnbcA1
Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and the Feud Over Killer Robots
(excerpt): … Mr. Musk’s fears of A.I., distilled to their essence, were simple: If we create machines that are smarter than humans, they could turn against us. (See: “The Terminator,” “The Matrix,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”) Let’s for once, he was saying to the rest of the tech industry, consider the unintended consequences of what we are creating before we unleash it on the world.
Neither Mr. Musk nor Mr. Zuckerberg would talk in detail about the dinner, which has not been reported before, or their long-running A.I. debate.
The creation of “superintelligence” — the name for the supersmart technological breakthrough that takes A.I. to the next level and creates machines that not only perform narrow tasks that typically require human intelligence (like self-driving cars) but can actually outthink humans — still feels like science fiction. But the fight over the future of A.I. has spread across the tech industry.
More than 4,000 Google employees recently signed a petition protesting a $9 million A.I. contract the company had signed with the Pentagon — a deal worth chicken feed to the internet giant, but deeply troubling to many artificial intelligence researchers at the company. Last week, Google executives, trying to head off a worker rebellion, said they wouldn’t renew the contract when it expires next year.
Artificial intelligence research has enormous potential and enormous implications, both as an economic engine and a source of military superiority. The Chinese government has said it is willing to spend billions in the coming years to make the country the world’s leader in A.I., while the Pentagon is aggressively courting the tech industry for help. A new breed of autonomous weapons can’t be far away. … …

***
Losing all cash in Sweden becomes fearful to the government —  “…that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark…” (Rev. 13:17)
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2018/06/11/sweden-tries-to-halt-total-cashlessness-with-lawmaker-proposal
Sweden Tries to Halt Total Cashlessness With Lawmaker Proposal
(Bloomberg) -- A key committee of Swedish lawmakers wants to force the country’s biggest banks to handle cash in an effort to halt the nation’s march toward complete cashlessness.
Parliament’s Riksbank committee, which is in the process of reviewing the central bank law, proposed making it mandatory for banks to offer cash withdrawals and handle daily receipts. The requirement would apply to banks that provide checking accounts and have more than 70 billion kronor ($8 billion) in deposits from the Swedish public, according to a report.
The lawmakers said there needs to be “reasonable access to those services in all of Sweden," and that 99 percent of Swedes should have a maximum distance of 25 kilometers (16 miles) to the nearest cash withdrawal. The requirement doesn’t state how banks should offer those services, and lenders can choose whether to use a third party, machines or over-the-counter services.
The move is a response to Sweden’s rapid transformation as it becomes one of the most cashless societies in the world. That’s led to concerns that some people are finding it increasingly difficult to cope without access to mobile phones or bank cards. There are also fears around what would happen if the digital payments systems suddenly crashed.

Swedes Now at Risk of Losing Access to Cash in Parts of Country 

"We believe that the continued development of access to cash in society needs to take place in a controlled manner so that the public’s and society’s need for cash is fulfilled," the committee said in an op-ed in Dagens Nyheter. … …

***
(June12)
War in the streets? Nicaragua following downward spiral of Venezuela?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ortega-stays-mum-nicaragua-continues-violent-downward-spiral-194234547.html
Ortega stays mum as Nicaragua continues violent downward spiral

Managua (AFP) - Armed riot police and pro-government paramilitaries on Monday attacked barricades manned by anti-government activists in the Nicaraguan capital, plunging neighborhoods into violence and chaos in an attempt to stamp out a two-month-old uprising against President Daniel Ortega.
The government offensive launched overnight into the early morning comes as Ortega enters his fifth day of silence regarding the Roman Catholic Church's proposal to restart talks aimed at calming the political crisis.
Cracks of gun fire resounded through the streets of Managua as television footage showed turbulent scenes of armed security forces on foot and in trucks chasing young men away from street barricades. … …

***

“Perplexity of Nations” (see Luke 21:25), reinvigorated nationalism stifles dire needs of global migrants.  What next?  No win?  Catch 22?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2018/06/11/italy-new-populist-government-turns-away-ship-with-migrants-aboard/quPPgK1kE2bAIV8cLbX92K/story.html
Italy’s new populist government turns away ship with 600 migrants aboard

ROME — Italy’s new populist government, following through on its campaign promise to crack down on immigration, refused to let a rescue ship with more than 600 migrants dock Sunday and threatened to do the same to other ships Monday.
The action set off a day of diplomatic confrontation with the European Union and its Mediterranean neighbors, until Spain said Monday afternoon that it would break the deadlock and accept the ship, the Aquarius, which had been at sea under a sweltering sun since Saturday.
But the blocking of the ship made for the first real test of whether Matteo Salvini, the country’s powerful interior minister and leader of the anti-immigrant League, would keep the hard-line campaign promises to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants and to prevent new arrivals from landing on Italian shores. … …

***
(June 13)
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; (Why?) that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour…” (1Tim 2:1-4).  In these times when one doesn’t know what the one next to him will do next, we need to honor the Word, pray for those in authority, for their protection and guidance, that we also may spiritually profit in peace.

https://nypost.com/2018/06/11/politicians-fear-for-safety-as-threats-against-congress-skyrocket/
Politicians fear for safety as threats against Congress skyrocket
WASHINGTON — Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia bought body armor. Rep. Gregg Harper hired armed security guards for events back home in Mississippi. And Rep. Dan Dovonan fortified his Brooklyn and Staten Island offices with security cameras and buzzer systems.
This is the new normal for members of Congress. One year after the horrific congressional baseball shooting that almost took the life of Rep. Steve Scalise and former Hill staffer Matt Mika, members are keenly aware that serving in public office has put a target on their backs.
“The true reality is if somebody wanted to do me harm, they could probably do that with relative ease and that is sad,” said Rep. Chuck Fleishmann (R-Tenn.), a New York City native.
In 2016, there were 902 threatening incidents and communications against members of Congress. By 2017, the reports had more than doubled to about 2,000, according to the House Sergeant at Arms office.
In response, the House Administration Committee allocated $25,000 to each member in 2017 and again in 2018 to beef up their personal and office security, prompting members to hire bodyguards for events and equip offices with panic buttons and shatter-resistant glass.
The House Sergeant at Arms got an additional $5 million to improve office security for district offices. Congress also increased funding for Capitol Police by $29.2 million in 2017, and another $29.9 million in 2018. … …

***
The New E.U. ? / Armed Borders, War Games in Austria prepare to resist immigrant assaults on its border / Italy and France bash over Globalism v. Nationalism in the immigrant crisis —
https://www.yahoo.com/news/italy-france-tensions-spiral-over-rejected-migrant-ship-133857517.html
Italy, France tensions spiral over rejected migrant ship
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/06/13/austria-wargames-mass-migration-surge-border-closure/
Austria Police, Army to Stage Border Defence War Games as Balkans Warn 80,000 Migrants Headed North

***
(June 15)
“Pre-History” begins?  Isaak Asimov’s millennium-long Foundation Empire, run by an AI/Robotic formula for anticipating (thus guiding and creating) the future, near perfectly aims to usurp God and be god.  Do Arthur C. Clarke’s work, Orwell’s, The Terminator, The Matrix etc. also anticipate this which begins in experiments like these with AI?  Does “pre-history” algorithmic AI imitate a God-usurping version of Time Travel?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5847767/Creepy-AI-predict-moves-advance-lead-level-Big-Brother-surveillance.html
The creepy AI that can predict the future: Machine that anticipates your movements several minutes in advance could pave the way for next-level Big Brother surveillance
	•	Algorithm was able to accurately predict actions minutes before they happened
	•	Researchers trained the AI with four hours of cooking videos
	•	Dr Jürgen Gall wants to be able to anticipate things 'hours before they happen'
An intelligent machine capable of anticipating your next move minutes in advance sounds like the stuff of nightmares – but is now a reality.
Researchers have taught an AI to recognise patterns in people’s actions, allowing it to accurately predict the next move in a sequence minutes in advance.

***
Open needle-drug use, public defecation, sex, and open public nudity, orgy, and sodomite practices.  Openly demonized (or psychotic) public episodes, people talking out loud with their demons, dangerous ramblings and actions…Christians in San Francisco should watch and pray if God gives directions to leave the city.  It is now “as in the days of Lot.”  Will God flush the city off into the ocean?  “God is not mocked; whatsoever a man (city, place, people) soweth, that shall he (they) also reap.”  He has not changed:  “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  He is not only loving toward his own and the Lost, but “God is angry with the wicked every day,” and the wrath of the Lamb will descend on the unrepentant wicked.  Christian, see the latter ends of  the “LGBT movement” rising as this present Sodom begins to come apart.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/is-san-francisco-dangerous-visit-sf-safe-crime-12995294.php
'Am I in the bad part of town?' Tourists shocked by what they see on San Francisco streets
It's something many San Franciscans see on a daily basis, outside their homes or offices and during their commutes. For better or for worse, locals are used to walking by crime scenes, have seen open injection drug use, and have witnessed mental health episodes firsthand.
But when a tourist lands at SFO, guidebook in hand, that reality can be shocking.
"Is this normal or am I in a 'bad part of town?' Just walked past numerous homeless off their faces, screaming and running all over the sidewalk near Twitter HQ and then a murder scene. Wife is scared to leave hotel now," wrote an Australian Reddit user Wednesday.
That person isn't alone. On Sunday, another tourist from Canada asked the San Francisco Reddit community, "Why is this city so terrifying?"
"I'd been there for probably less than a day, just wandering around the center, and already seen more than enough poverty and suffering to cause me wanting to leave desperately," wrote another visitor from London in 2017.  "I saw many people talking to themselves, or to things that weren't there. Even in a Macy's, and there weren't any police officers to help them or do anything about it."
Anyone who has hosted friends or family from out of town may have had to field similar questions.
Just those three Reddit posts garnered more than 650 comments, many of which were helpful suggestions (other neighborhoods to explore, safety tips, and more).
But the city's own visitors' bureau is struggling to come up with a good explanation for horrified tourists.
"The streets are filthy. There's trash everywhere. It's disgusting," Joe D'Alessandro, president of S.F. Travel told the Chronicle’s Heather Knight in April. "I've never seen any other city like this — the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs."
"You see things on the streets that are just not humane," Kevin Carroll, executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, also told Knight. "People come into hotels saying, 'What is going on out there?' They're just shocked. ... People say, 'I love your city, I love your restaurants, but I'll never come back.'" … …

***
(June 16)
Sodom in full flower in legal (“Title 9” insanity) America — our teen athletes and other heterosexual, morally-aligned youth are essentially morally raped by a culture war gone mad.  God save us.
Prophecynewswatch.com offers up this survey of recent events, thank you.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2337
The End of Girls’ Sports
Her dreams of a scholarship shattered, your 14-year-old daughter just lost her position on an all-girl team to a male…and now she may have to shower with him.

To close the week off, here's a roundup of the latest insanities stampeding through the culture.
Maine is the latest jurisdiction to offer a "third gender option" on their driver's licenses--in addition to male and female, there will also be an "X" for those who are "non-binary." These sorts of bureaucratic moves may seem fairly insignificant, but they do represent another step towards implementing the ideology of gender fluidity into the government and indicate that the state sanctions and accepts this ideology--and all of its implications.
One of those implications is less freedom for those who do not think that gender is interchangeable or fluid.
A teacher in Indiana has apparently been forced to resign after he began calling all of the students by their last names in order to avoid addressing "transgender students by their preferred name." 
One student, in keeping with the progressive assertion that words are themselves violent, insinuated that the teacher was unwittingly causing trans suicides by his actions.
Some parents, at least, are becoming outraged as the implications of gender fluidity are beginning to become apparent. 
Beyond the bathroom wars--one teenage girl is taking her school to court after finding a biological male in the girls' bathroom only to have the principal tell her that such things were "policy" now--biological male students claiming to be female are cleaning house at sports event. 
The latest example is in Connecticut, where two biological males (who do not look even remotely female) took home all of the top prizes at the state track and field championships.
The English National Ballet has also fallen to the trans activists--their latest production, Sleeping Beauty, featured a male "gender-fluid" ballerina as part of an all-female ensemble. 
And a judge in Newfoundland, Canada, has ruled that a "polyamorous trio" of one woman and two men were all legal parents of a child that the woman gave birth to in 2017. 
The judge described the polyamorous relationship as "stable and ongoing" despite the fact that none of them are legally married, and that they hadn't bothered to determine who the biological father of the child was. 
The judge also indicated that having three (unmarried) parents would be "best for the child." That custody battle, I'm sure, is going to be as ugly as it is complex.
Progressive attempts to chip away at the remains of the family unit continue. From people who reject both femininity and masculinity and attempt to legislate confusion, to dissenters getting fired, to biological males disrupting spaces that were once reserved for all-females--this cultural experiment is going to come with a skull-splitting hangover. 
And regardless of what one delusional judge has to say, none of this is going to be "best" for the children.
Originally published at The Bridgehead- reposted with permission.

***
More trouble for Merkel from the populists. German/EU liberalism collapsing?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/world/europe/germany-merkel-migrants-bavaria-seehofer.html?emc=edit_th_180616&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980616
German Hard-Liners Want to Close Borders, Threatening Merkel Coalition
BERLIN — The populist surge that has left Hungary, Austria and Italy threatening to close their borders to migrants has now spread to Germany, where it could even bring down Chancellor Angela Merkel and further unhinge Europe Union’s cohesion and stability.
In recent days, Ms. Merkel has faced an increasingly virulent mutiny over the issue, which threatens to fracture her governing coalition as early as next week.
The mutiny is led by her own interior minister, Horst Seehofer, a former Bavarian premier with a towering stature and plenty of beer-tent charisma, who sounds more in line with the nativist forces shaping politics in neighboring countries than with his own boss.
His region found itself on the front line of the refugee crisis in 2015, when Ms. Merkel opened the borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants who poured into Bavaria. He has long been an outspoken critic of her decision, and in recent days the two leaders have been locked in a standoff. … …

***

Before I was afflicted I went astray:
But now have I kept thy word.
Psalm 119:67

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

June 10

Saints,

On the Wednesday of this past week and the sixth of the month, the media showed us a black man being suddenly assaulted by the police in Mesa, Arizona for leaning back and sitting against a wall when they must’ve meant sitting clear to the floor.  Several burly policemen beat him in the face and head and body repeatedly until he sank, seemingly unconscious, to the floor.  And all this for essentially being a bystander to a domestic call that had been made to the police.  Yes, “Black Lives (do) Matter.”  We should not treat in such ways fellow humans, those for whom Christ died.  But we do.  

And, at this point, this whole world seems to be suffering the same head and body blows as did this man.  The blows are in every area: planetary, as the Earth writhes in “natural disasters,” blamed blindly on “Mother Nature” (with a shrug); cultural and religious, as Islam seeks bloody global triumph, as sodomites roam freely, full of “pride,” trying to take over even our children by force of law and “education;” as governments struggle with “one-worldism” over their nationalities; as desperate migrants, in great population-shifts try to avoid both manmade genocide and natural genocidal conditions here and there around the planet such that they threaten to overrun the very nations to which they run.  “Etc., etc.,etc.” as even neighbor turns on neighbor.

And what sources do we have to know about it all?…the news and social media of which we know we cannot trust.  In order to maintain any credibility with us at all, the media must give some reasonably factual information on “natural disasters” and conditions, but we have learned to be wary of every report on social, cultural, religious, gender, political, etc. events and situations as we can see the smearing bias of even so-called factual reporting, not to mention the loathing adjectives and pejoratives thrown around by editorialists and opinion writers.  Unfortunately, this does not affect us only in the social medias but also makes neighbor paranoid against neighbor, and everyone everywhere often seems to be in a terrible, even murderous mood and very much “on edge.”  Road Rage is an increasing danger at all times, and localized violence has everyone jumpy:  “I can’t believe it could happen here,” and,  “He was just such a nice guy and good neighbor.”

In light of these things, I encourage you to remember that the links I post are of reports made to us, and by them we can only take the mood and temperature of the times.  In some cases, they may be stirred by a demonized media just to further frighten and herd us into opposing camps.  Yet, they are indicative of the times cited by the prophecies sent to us by God by his Son and His prophets.  If we feel alone and isolated, as though we no longer have any worth, we must remember that we are the Called of God, his disciples, even, as he pointed out, his “friends.”  We must labor for Him, even if it be only by continuous watching and prayer (and I shouldn’t say “even” here, for these are among the most important of our callings, but they are little seen by outward observers.) Instead of feeling isolated and alone, let us continue in prayer for those situations around us, for nearly everyone is suffering more and more intently.  Let us add to that to pray for our government and leaders for which we are solemnly admonished so to do.  We are not “worthless;” we are about the business of our King.  If we are neglected by those we love, by those nearby, let us look all the more to the Lord and for how and what to pray for those around us.  By prayer to God and service to “our neighbor,” we are also sustained from the desperation of these times.  

Maranatha!  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

***

The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —

(June 4)
Overflowing reasons to get out of public education if possible:  the propaganda of Sodom upon our children.
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2305
More Parents Homeschooling To Counter LGBT Indoctrination
In states across the country, schools have quietly implemented elementary and preschool programs designed to indoctrinate young children to homosexual and transgendered lifestyles. 
State education departments have implemented systematic LGBT acceptance curriculum programs at every level. These programs include books and activities, beginning with pre-school, meant to make switching genders or having same-sex parents seem both normal and commonplace. 
But unlike some other sex education programs that have required parents to opt-in to the instruction, these programs are increasingly becoming mandatory, with parents unable even to opt-out if they are opposed to such teaching. … …

***
New privacy data brou-ha-ha as Facebook accused of selling private data to…whosoever will?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-04/facebook-disputes-report-it-grants-phone-makers-deep-data-access?cmpId=yhoo.headline&yptr=yahoo
Phone Makers Deep Data Access
The social network argues against claims in the New York Times
Facebook says sharing is intended to help devices with its app
Facebook Inc. is disputing a New York times report about how it shares data with device makers from Apple and Amazon to Samsung. They’re privy to Facebook users’ information but it’s nothing like the access that led to the Cambridge Analytica controversy, the social network said.\
The New York Times reported Facebook had struck deals with device manufacturers that allowed them full access to information on users and their friends. But the U.S. company contends those pacts were intended to help device makers create their own versions of Facebook apps, and the data mostly remained on phones that accessed it. That kind of arrangement was necessary before phone operating systems relied on app stores, it added.
Facebook and other internet companies are grappling with a global backlash over the extent to which they hoover up and handle user data. The New York Times said the vast amounts of information shared with Apple Inc. and other phone-makers included data on users’ friends that had supposedly barred access. … …	

***
CBS’s John Dickerson on their morning news says, “The Earth is angry today”…reporting on massive southwestern fires, a sudden and devastating killer volcano eruption in Guatemala, and the ongoing scene in Hawaii —
http://news.trust.org/item/20180604040604-3vy78
Guatemala's Fuego volcano eruption kills 25, injures hundreds
Rescue operations were suspended until 5:00 A.M. (1100 GMT) due to dangerous conditions and inclement weather
GUATEMALA CITY, June 3 (Reuters) - An estimated 25 people, including at least three children, were killed and nearly 300 injured on Sunday in the most violent eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano in more than four decades, officials said.
Volcan de Fuego, whose name means "Volcano of Fire", spewed an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stream of red hot lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions.
The charred bodies of victims laid on the steaming, ashen remnants of a pyroclastic flow as rescuers attended to badly injured victims in the aftermath of the eruption.
It was the 3,763-meter (12,346-feet) volcano's second eruption this year.
"It's a river of lava that overflowed its banks and affected the El Rodeo village. There are injured, burned and dead people," Sergio Cabanas, the general secretary of Guatemala's CONRED national disaster management agency, said on radio. … …
Death toll at June 8 : now over 100 with as many or more still missing.

Does it make some Hawaiians seem almost arrogant in refusing to evacuate when we see poor Guatemalans, covered in ash, fleeing for their lives?  Will the Hawaiian volcano produce a sudden catastrophic explosion? https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-hawaiis-kilauea-erupts-volcanologists-swarm-i-expect-great-science-from-this-event/2018/05/24/85328936-5e9a-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html?utm_term=.41caf649fadf
…And Southwestern Americans are also fleeing wildfires as evacuation orders roll out — http://www.newsweek.com/durango-416-fire-update-2250-acre-colorado-wildfire-growing-956879

*** 
Praise God, the “Supreme” Court has agreed with The Supreme Being and defended this brother, raising memories of how God’s angels defended Lot in Sodom!
Breaking News Alert / New York Times / Monday, June 4, 2018 10:35 AM EST
The Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker, voting 7 to 2 in a closely watched case pitting gay rights against claims of religious freedom
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, relied on narrow grounds, saying a state commission had violated the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom in ruling against the baker, who had refused to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple.
Story, shortly after from yahoo.com —
https://www.yahoo.com/news/justices-side-colorado-baker-same-sex-wedding-cake-142744589--politics.html
Justices side with Colorado baker on same-sex wedding cake
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday for a Colorado baker who wouldn't make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But the court is not deciding the big issue in the case, whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people.
The justices' limited ruling turned on what the court described as anti-religious bias on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission when it ruled against baker Jack Phillips. The justices voted 7-2 that the commission violated Phillips' rights under the First Amendment.
Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that the larger issue "must await further elaboration" in the courts. Appeals in similar cases are pending, including one at the Supreme Court from a florist who didn't want to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding.
The same-sex couple at the heart of the case, Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins, complained to the Colorado commission in 2012 after they visited Phillips' Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver and the baker quickly told them he would not create a cake for a same-sex wedding.
Colorado law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and the commission concluded that Phillips' refusal violated the law. Colorado state courts upheld the determination.
But when the justices heard arguments in December, Kennedy was plainly bothered by comments by a commission member. The commissioner seemed "neither tolerant nor respectful of Mr. Phillips' religious beliefs," Kennedy said in December.
That same sentiment suffused his opinion on Monday. "The commission's hostility was inconsistent with the First Amendment's guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion," he wrote.
Liberal justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined the conservative justices in the outcome. Kagan wrote separately to emphasize the limited ruling.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
In a statement issued after the ruling Monday, Phillips' Supreme Court lawyer praised the decision.
"Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the state of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jack's religious beliefs about marriage. The court was right to condemn that," said Kristen Waggoner, the Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel who argued Phillips' case.
Waggoner said Phillips is willing to sell ready-made products to anyone who enters his store. But, "he simply declines to express messages or celebrate events that violate his deeply held beliefs," she said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the couple in its legal fight, said it was pleased the court did not endorse a broad religion-based exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
"The court reversed the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision based on concerns unique to the case but reaffirmed its longstanding rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against LGBT people." said Louise Melling, the ACLU's deputy legal director.
Several legal disputes are pending over wedding services, similar to the Phillips case. Video producers, graphic artists and florists are among business owners who say they oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds and don't want to participate in same-sex weddings.
Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in Richland, Washington, has appealed a state Supreme Court ruling that found she violated state law for refusing to provide the wedding flowers for two men who were about to be married.
The justices could decide what to do with that appeal by the end of June.

***
Unfortunately, will this only make money valueless, and work and work-ethic along with it?  Will the $500 become a new measure of where zero starts?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-income/california-city-fights-poverty-with-guaranteed-income-idUSKCN1J015D
California city fights poverty with guaranteed income
STOCKTON, Calif. (Reuters) - Michael Tubbs, the 27-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, has a radical plan to combat poverty in his cash-strapped city: a “no strings” guaranteed basic income of $500 a month for its residents.

***
(June 5)
Have these times brought on governments’ perceived needs for Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth” (totalitarian control of information)?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/frances-fake-news-law-leaves-media-experts-uneasy-145712000.html
France's fake news law leaves media experts uneasy
Emmanuel Macron was targeted during his 2017 campaign by online rumours that he was gay and had a secret bank account in the Bahamas
Paris (AFP) - France is the latest country attempting to fight the scourge of fake news with legislation -- but opponents say the law won't work and could even be used to silence critics.
The draft law, designed to stop what the government calls "manipulation of information" in the run-up to elections, will be debated in parliament Thursday with a view to it being put into action during next year's European parliamentary polls.
The idea for the bill came straight from President Emmanuel Macron, who was himself targeted during his 2017 campaign by online rumours that he was gay and had a secret bank account in the Bahamas.
Under the law, French authorities would be able to immediately halt the publication of information deemed to be false ahead of elections.
Social networks would have to introduce measures allowing users to flag up false reports, pass their data on such articles to authorities, and make public their efforts against fake news.
And the law would authorise the state to take foreign broadcasters off the air if they were attempting to destabilise France -- a measure seemingly aimed at Russian state-backed outlet RT in particular.
- Censorship? -
European governments have struggled to work out how to respond to the fake news phenomenon, not least after accusations of Kremlin meddling in France and the US presidential vote that brought Donald Trump to power.
The British government has set up a "fake news" unit, while Italy has an online service to report false articles and the European Union is working on a "code of practice" that would provide guidelines for social media companies.
France wants to go further -- though not as far as neighbouring Germany, where social networks face fines of up to 50 million euros ($58 million) under a controversial law which critics say is overly draconian.
Some opponents fear French authorities could use powers in the new law to block embarrassing or compromising reports.
"It's a step towards censorship," said Vincent Lanier, head of France's national journalists' union, the SNJ. He labelled the bill "inefficient and potentially dangerous".
The government insists measures will be built into the law to protect freedom of speech, with only reports that are "manifestly false" and that have gone viral -- notably with the help of bots -- taken down.
"Reducing freedom of expression is not the idea at all. On the contrary, it's to protect it," said Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen.
Leaving fake news to spread would be a "direct attack" on journalism, she argued.
But for Jerome Fenoglio, editorial director of Le Monde newspaper, the legislation carries too big a risk of suppressing information in the public interest.
"Elections should be a time of great freedom -- these are periods when important information emerges," he said, noting as an example the fake jobs scandal that torpedoed the campaign of presidential frontrunner Francois Fillon last year.
"We should be worried about an authoritarian regime winning power in France in the future and the methods it might use," he said.
- Arbiters of truth -
Others worry the law could backfire by giving extra credibility to reports labelled "fake" by the authorities amongst those convinced the government is out to hide the truth.
Fabrice Epelboin, who teaches media studies at Sciences Po university in Paris, predicts "catastrophic consequences" of the legislation which he says "is already seen as a law of censorship".
"It will only reinforce a sense of defiance towards the press and politicians who are already very discredited," he warned.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose followers stand accused of spreading fake news, is among those who have spoken against the bill, asking: "Is France still a democracy if it muzzles its citizens?"

***
Does Tommy Robinson amount to a political prisoner of the PC/Big Brother State, “deep state,” in the UK?

https://europe.infowars.com/geert-wilders-to-spearhead-tommy-robinson-protest-in-london/
Geert Wilders to Spearhead Tommy Robinson Protest In London
International protests on behalf of UK political prisoner Tommy Robinson gain momentum as Dutch MP Geert Wilders announces he will join the June 9th demonstration in London.
Wilders, an outspoken critic of the Islamization of Europe, risks a hostile reception from both Islamists and a British government that has denied him entry to the country in the past.
In a manifesto published by Breitbart London, Wilders praised Robinson for his courage in speaking out on behalf of the silent majority of Brits who are watching their homeland descend into an Orwellian, pseudo-Islamic tyranny.
"Tommy Robinson is a working-class man, who can no longer stand how the original population of England is oppressed by Islam," Wilders wrote. "The latter enjoys the protection from the multiculturalist politically-correct Islamophile ruling class. Tommy Robinson wants to break the taboos this class imposes on society, and he was punished for it."
"But Tommy embodies the hope of many, whose voices are not heard. That is why I stand with him. Tommy is a hero. It is a disgrace that he is still in jail. I have been invited to a major protest demonstration in London next week, and I will be coming. Free Tommy now!"
Wilders will join prominent UK politicians, journalists and activists - and likely thousands of Brits at the June 9 event.
"Working on some very big names for next weekend’s #FreeTommy rally," announced political commentator and author, Raheem Kassam. "You are NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS IT."
The London demonstration will serve as the epicenter of a burgeoning movement in support of Robinson and all his plight symbolizes in the battle for free speech across the West.
Parallel rallies have been taking place in cities around Europe, the US, and Australia, and are expected to continue. … …

***
Uh-Oh.  An Important article to read.  As for me, I disavow any political or insurrectionist intent.  I serve the One whose kingdom is not of this world.  Are there analyst/profilers among my readers? You also must personally repent and be saved, or follow the spirit of Antichrist into the Lake of Fire.  I hope my little email effort and unfancy website flies mostly under the radar, but we must all stand in the Truth of Christ whatever the cost or opposition.  Lord, help us.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-04/department-homeland-security-compiles-list-all-bloggers-journalists-social-media
Department Of Homeland Security Compiles List Of All Bloggers, Journalists, & "Social Media Influencers"
***
“Can’t buy me love,” or happiness.  The super-rich also suffer the same human desperations. Do riches themselves also extract some kinds of costly anguish (1 Tim. 6:10, suicidal implications)?  May those left behind find His mercies and comfort instead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5808813/Kate-Spade-dead-Park-Avenue-apartment-apparent-suicide.html
'I have always loved you': Heartbreaking suicide note Kate Spade left…

***
Bilderberg conferences:  front men for Illuminists and Luciferians, recruitment center for the movers and shakers, the up and coming, the groomed new crop of the wicked?
https://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-globalists-concerned-about-populist-uprising-in-europe/
BILDERBERG GLOBALISTS CONCERNED ABOUT POPULIST UPRISING IN EUROPE
Elitist confab set to meet in Turin, Italy
Bilderberg globalists are concerned about the populist uprising sweeping Europe.
The annual elitist confab is set to meet this week in Turin, an appropriate venue given that Italy has just elected an anti-mass migration, eurosceptic coalition government.
According to the group’s official website, the number one topic of conversation at this year’s secretive meeting will be “populism in Europe”.
Having failed to install a former IMF technocrat after coalition talks between the 5 Star Movement and Lega parties temporarily broke down, globalists will undoubtedly be expressing alarm at the potential for Italy to be an example to the rest of Europe.
The country’s new populist government has vowed to deport 500,000 migrants, re-assert localism over globalisation & monopoly capitalism, monitor mosques and reinvigorate the country’s Christian heritage, all policies that directly contradict the neoliberal globalist consensus that Bilderberg represents. … …
(Full list of attendees is published with this piece and includes Wall Street journalist Peggy Noonan, former General David Petraeus, and, of course, Henry Kissinger.)

***
(June 6)
Do dark lords of forced, atheistic socialist states “offer up sacrifices” to strengthen their regimes by killing protesters?  A policewoman in this story summarily executes a 15 year old —

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nicaraguas-political-crisis-descends-into-dark-days-1528235963
Nicaragua’s Political Crisis Descends Into ‘Dark Days’
A surge of violence has snuffed out economic activity and dimmed prospects to resolve a revolt against longtime leader Daniel Ortega

***
“The fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” cannot be undone by human effort and experience (but only by the mercy of God’s Gospel in Christ); any new knowledge has its up-sides AND its down-sides.
https://www.geek.com/tech/mit-creates-an-ai-psychopath-because-someone-had-to-eventually-1741948/
MIT Creates An AI Psychopath Because Someone Had To Eventually

***
The Future is Now.  Who needs sunscreen when you can have a drone be your sun-drone-brella?
http://www.france24.com/en/20180606-japan-drone-brella-promises-hands-free-sun-cover
Japan 'drone-brella' promises hands-free sun cover

***
(June 7)
https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/wjbzzy/your-phone-is-listening-and-its-not-paranoia
Your Phone Is Listening and it's Not Paranoia
A couple years ago, something strange happened. A friend and I were sitting at a bar, iPhones in pockets, discussing our recent trips in Japan and how we’d like to go back. The very next day, we both received pop-up ads on Facebook about cheap return flights to Tokyo. It seemed like just a spooky coincidence, but then everyone seems to have a story about their smartphone listening to them. So is this just paranoia, or are our smartphones actually listening?
According to Dr. Peter Hannay—The senior security consultant for cybersecurity firm Asterisk, and former lecturer and researcher at Edith Cowan University—the short answer is yes, but perhaps in a way that's not as diabolical as it sounds.For your smartphone to actually pay attention and record your conversation, there needs to be a trigger, such as when you say “hey Siri” or “okay Google.” In the absence of these triggers, any data you provide is only processed within your own phone. This might not seem a cause for alarm, but any third party applications you have on your phone—like Facebook for example—still have access to this “non-triggered” data. And whether or not they use this data is really up to them. … …
***
Now, it’s in China. Is this unusual attack on US diplomats in socialist countries some spy tech, a spiritual attack, or both?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/world/asia/china-guangzhou-consulate-sonic-attack.html
A Medical Mystery Grows as U.S. Consulate Workers in China Fall Ill
GUANGZHOU, China — A crisis over a mysterious ailment sickening American diplomats and their families — which began in Cuba and recently appeared in China — has widened as the State Department evacuated at least two more Americans from China on Wednesday.
The Americans who were evacuated worked at the American Consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou, and their colleagues and family members are being tested by a State Department medical team, officials said. It is unclear how many of them are exhibiting symptoms, but a State Department spokeswoman said Wednesday evening that “a number of individuals” had been sent to the United States for further testing.
For months, American officials have been worried that their diplomats have been subjected to targeted attacks involving odd sounds, leading to symptoms similar to those “following concussion or minor traumatic brain injury,” the State Department says.
The cases in China have broadened a medical mystery that started in 2016, when American Embassy employees and their family members began falling ill in Havana. In all, 24 of them were stricken with headaches, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive issues and other symptoms after saying they heard odd sounds. The issue has roiled relations with Cuba, which immediately fell under suspicion, and led the United States to expel Cuban diplomats. … …

***
Notes Matt Drudge: Hottest May in 124 years; 8950 Heat Records set—  
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-06-06-may-2018-record-hot-temperatures-united-states-noaa-report
Lower 48 States Just Had the Warmest May on Record
May 2018 was the hottest of any May in 124 years of recording keeping for the continental United States, eclipsing the extreme heat of that month in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl era.

***
Faux-Chicken or Faux-Beef?  Which will be worst? On the way to Soylent Green?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kfc-vegetarian-chicken-version-of-its-fried-chicken-in-u-k/
KFC creating vegetarian version of its fried chicken in U.K.
Colonel Sanders may be rolling over in his grave. Nearly four decades after the death of the man who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food chain, KFC is devising a fake meat version with the colonel's tightly held original recipe of 11 herbs and spices
***
I haven’t been paying much attention to the lead-up to midterms, but given the NYTimes almost mute analysis (relative to its usual howls of deprecation), the parties of the liberal left must not have rallied like the propagandists had hyped?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/us/politics/california-new-jersey-primaries-house.html
Democrats Strengthen House Takeover Prospects in Primary Voting
The Democratic Party skirted disaster in California and lined up likely gains in New Jersey, but Republicans saw some bright signs as well.

***
Tourists Tripping and Bad Tripping in Peru — Ayahuasca
https://www.yahoo.com/news/psychedelic-tourism-thrives-peru-despite-recent-killing-040143072.html
Psychedelic tourism thrives in Peru despite recent killing
NUEVO EGIPTO, Peru (AP) — Sitting on a mattress strewn across the floor with white sheets, Pamela Moronci closes her eyes while a traditional healer starts to chant in the indigenous Shipibo language.
In a straw hut, engulfed by the nighttime cacophony of the Amazon rainforest, a shaman inhales a potent tobacco from a pipe and blows smoke on Moronci's head to cleanse her, before she takes her place in a sacred ayahuasca ceremony. He offers the Italian woman a plastic cup with three ounces of a bitter, muddy brew made of psychedelic vines. Moronci drinks it, coughs and smiles despite its unpleasant taste.
"There is a really strong energy here," she says, before falling asleep, amid the chirping of crickets and thundering rain.
Every year thousands of tourists visit jungle retreats in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador to try ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic elixir made of native plants that is thought to heal some mental illnesses. But while Moronci and others say they have found peace and enlightenment, for a few seekers the experience has been fatal. … …

***
(June 8)
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/06/07/vatican-secretary-of-state-attending-elite-bilderberg-meeting/
Vatican Secretary of State attending elite Bilderberg meeting

***
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5820445/Austrias-right-wing-government-plans-shut-mosques-expel-imams.html
Austria's right-wing government plans to shut down seven mosques and expel up to 40 foreign-funded imams in crackdown against Islamist ideology
Austria's right-wing government plans to shut down seven mosques and expel up to 40 imams in what it said was 'just the beginning' of a push against Islamist ideology and foreign funding of religious groups.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the government is shutting a hardline Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques.
His coalition government, an alliance of conservatives and the far right, came to power soon after Europe's migration crisis on promises to prevent another influx and clamp down on benefits for new immigrants and refugees. … …

***
Rise of the Robot Scooters?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/07/scooters-littering-city-streets-shout-at-people-unlock-me-or-ill-call-the-police
Scooters littering US city streets shout at people: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

***
“Famous Last Words” — The cost in Eden of gaining “the knowledge of good and evil” by disobedience guarantees Google’s (and others) AI will be weaponized.  All history since attests too.
http://dailynews.express/tech/google-promises-its-a-i-will-not-be-used-for-weapons/
Google Promises Its A.I. Will Not Be Used for Weapons

***
(June 9)
For the man on the street:  eye in the sky, hand in the sky, gun in the sky.  Drones augment policing; initial AI may misinterpret a hand shake or pat on the shoulder as violence and react accordingly.

https://qz.com/1299947/this-is-the-week-that-the-drone-surveillance-state-became-real/
This is the week that the drone surveillance state became real
(file under, “yeah, sure!”)
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2018/06/08/jodie-foster-much-more-comfortable-having-robots-own-gun-than-humans/
Jodie Foster Is ‘Much More Comfortable Having Robots’ Own Guns

***
“Complementarianism,” the biblical view of gender roles, is under serious attack among the Southern Baptists.  The “Me Too Movement” stresses sins against women while ignoring that they too are born in sin and that they too must turn to obedience to the God of the Bible if they would be saved.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sexual-misconduct/metoo-goes-church-southern-baptists-face-reckoning-over-treatment-women-n880216
#MeToo goes to church: Southern Baptists face a reckoning over treatment of women

***
Consider the potential inhuman disorientation and rage of a child brought up without any distinctly identifiable mother and father.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/07/baby-born-transgender-man-could-become-first-person-without/
Baby born to transgender man could become first person without a legal mother

A baby could become the first person without a legal mother if a transgender man wins a historic court battle. 
Lawyers representing the parent told a judge that he had been biologically able to get pregnant and give birth but had legally become a man when the child was born.
The man wants to be identified as the child's "father" or "parent" on a birth certificate, however a birth registrar told the man the law requires people who give birth to children to be registered as mothers. … …

***
“Can’t buy me love,” Part 2, see June 5 above about another celebrity suicide.
Bourdain, a media master chef, follows suit.  How sad.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html
CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61
***
English Alarmed at Islamic Encroachment Invasion.  A Nationalist Revolution in the UK? (See June 5 above)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/06/09/london-massive-crowds-gather-to-hear-geert-wilders-demand-tommy-robinsons-release/
London: Massive Crowds Gather to Hear Geert Wilders Demand Tommy Robinson’s Release
Massive crowds turned out in London on Saturday to rally for free speech and hear Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders demand the release of Tommy Robinson from prison.
“It’s so good to see so many of you here today, you are all heroes for being here today,” said the Freedom Party leader, an outspoken critic of radical Islam who rose to second place in the Dutch national elections last year.
Wilders told the crowd he had come to Britain to tell Robinson’s supporters they “will never walk alone” and to “tell the world, and the UK government in particular: Free Tommy Robinson!”
“At this very moment, thousands of people all over the world are demonstrating in front of British embassies, from LA to Sydney, and over half a million people have already signed the petition for Tommy,” he told the crowd.
“And all with the one important message: Free Tommy!
“So, Downing Street is just around the corner, so maybe once again, as loud as possible as we can, let them hear our message: Free Tommy Robinson!” he cried, prompting extended chants of ‘Oh, Tommy Tommy, Tommy Tommy Tommy Tommy Robinson!’ and ‘We want Tommy out!’
“Listen to us Theresa May, listen to us Sajid Javid, listen to us Sadiq Khan,” he continued, each name provoking passionate boos.
“Listen to us, all you in power: we want the release of Tommy Robinson!
“Tommy Robinson is the greatest freedom fighter of Britain today. Tommy Robinson is a freedom fighter. He says what no-one dares to say. He has guts. He has courage.
“And that is more than we can say for all those people that govern us. Because our governors sold us out with mass immigration, with Islamisation, with open borders. We are almost foreigners in our own land,” he declared.
“And if we complain about it, they call us racists or Islamophobes — but I say, no more. And what do you say?” he asked the assembled crowds. … …

***

And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch.

Mark 13:37

*************************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

June 3

Saints,
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(May 29)
We must be careful about mixing politics and religion. Our Faith must be sound, and politics will try to corrupt it for that is its nature; nevertheless, we must stand up for what is Righteous and True (Conscience still causes me to vote in some elections as this democracy declares me to be a part of the government whether it is really so or not).  It is often tempting to align with the Right, for Conservatism tends to reflect biblical Truth by holding to long established things, eternal principles, and divinely-given morals, but the Pharisees were also “conservative biblicists” but served their Flesh and ungodly attitudes thereby, finally crucifying their only Hope and Savior, yet to be forgiven if they would repent.  Some things on the Left reflect a reaction against ungodliness among conservatives who will forget the poor and needy in their self-righteousness.  It may be hard to swallow, but both Jesus and John the Baptist at times advocated a kind of Christian Socialism:  “Do you have two coats, give one of them to the poor,” “Do not forget the poor,” and yet, on the other hand, “The poor you will have always with you.” “Do not forget them, and you have ample opportunity to give alms, but me ye have not always with you.” — Keep the balance, but keep your eyes set on the Lord — not on some organized civic program! (paraphrases of Gospel instructions).

I commend Franklin Graham for stirring up those who defend biblical values and morality in California, but God grant him wisdom not to sell out to the vested political interests of Right Wing American Politics.  Both it and the Left shall have their place in hell if they do not strive to obey and exalt Christ in all things in this life.  He is Lord and not politics; we must raise our voices against Sodom, for one example, but be ready to rescue even those stained by that Flesh if they will repent.  We must not encourage cynical beggary and lazy, drug and booze addled and demonized layabouts, but we must also remember that a few unforeseen circumstances could suddenly make any of us homeless and instantly contemptible to many who are not yet.

God help us embrace your whole will in all things, something we cannot do without your constant grace.

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/localnews/6271436-151/the-evangelical-fight-to-win-back-california				https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/us/politics/franklin-graham-evangelicals-california.html
The Evangelical fight to win back California
PASADENA, Calif. — Franklin Graham stood in a packed locker room at the Rose Bowl, surrounded by fellow evangelists, pastors, and his top Los Angeles donors. It was two weeks before the California primary, and Graham was urging them to take a stand against their state’s “blue wall.”
The blue wall of California, Graham told the gathering, represents secular values that have taken root on the country’s west coast.
“Progressive?” he went on, “That’s just another word for godless.” Now is the time for churches to “suck it up” and vote. … …

NYTimes “Quote of the Day” —

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"Progressive? That’s just another word for godless."
THE EVANGELIST FRANKLIN GRAHAM, who is leading a three-bus caravan through California, one of the biggest political battlegrounds this year, to urge evangelicals to vote and win the state for Jesus.

***
Europe shrieks in fear over the one-world internet / social media invasions of the individual —

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/05/27/next-privacy-battle-europe-over-this-new-law/xduIe7NqYQH6LMiGPBnFiP/story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/technology/europe-eprivacy-regulation-battle.html?emc=edit_th_180528&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980528
The Next Privacy Battle in Europe Is Over This New Law
NEW YORK — The new European data privacy legislation is so stringent it could kill off data-driven online services and chill innovations like driverless cars, tech industry groups warn.
The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union called the legislation “overly strict.” The Developers Alliance, a trade group representing Facebook, Google, Intel, and dozens of app makers, said it could cost businesses in Europe more than 550 billion euros, or about $640 billion, in annual lost revenue. And DigitalEurope, another tech trade group, said the legislation’s prohibitive approach “seriously undermines the development of Europe’s digital economy.”
These industry alarms are not over the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, a tough privacy law that went into effect in the European Union on Friday. Instead, the cause is an even stricter privacy law that’s pending: the tech industry’s next regulatory battleground in Europe.
Called the ePrivacy Regulation, it specifically protects the confidentiality of electronic communications. The law was approved by the European Parliament in fall 2017 and is under review by the Council of the European Union, a group of government officials representing the 28 member countries. Bloc officials had originally intended for the law to go into effect this month, but council negotiations have been slowed by internal disagreements.
If the draft text prevails, the law will require Skype, WhatsApp, iMessage, video games with player messaging, and other electronic services that allow private interactions to obtain people’s explicit permission before placing tracking codes on users’ devices or collecting data about their communications.
Now, some of the same companies and trade associations that a few years ago tried to defang the GDPR have set their sights on derailing the ePrivacy legislation. Apart from heavily lobbying government officials in Europe, trade groups are funding doomsday financial forecasts and creating worst-case scenario video campaigns warning people of the rule’s potential drawbacks. … …

***
Point of Information.  This piece warns cyber users to simply reboot your routers — turn off and back on again —  to elude this hack invasion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/technology/router-fbi-reboot-malware.html
F.B.I.’s Urgent Request: Reboot Your Router to Stop Russia-Linked Malware

***
(May 30)

Praise God!  We win a battle.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/29/abortion-restrictions-arkansas-left-intact-supreme-court/651106002
/Supreme Court lets Arkansas abortion restrictions stand for now
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to block an Arkansas law targeting medication abortions, which threatens to leave the state with only one abortion clinic.
Without comment or objections from the liberal justices, the court turned away Planned Parenthood's initial challenge to the 2015 law. A federal trial court judge had blocked it as an undue burden on women seeking abortions, but an appeals court said opponents first needed to estimate how many women would be affected. … …

*** 
Advances in Virtual Reality — Brings new meaning to being blind, lost, and walking around in circles — Now, more than a metaphor, or should I say a virtual metaphor?
https://newatlas.com/eye-tracking-vr-infinite-walking/54824/utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-30%20144145%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-30%20145241%20Virgin%20Galactics%20spaceplane%20hits%20new%20heights%20in%20second%20powered%20flight&utm_content=2018-05-30%20144145%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-30%20145241%20Virgin%20Galactics%20spaceplane%20hits%20new%20heights%20in%20second%20powered%20flight+CID_bc96245203988f6cd10a26b2816f706e&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Eye-tracking tech tricks VR players into infinite walking – in circles
Virtual Reality is great at immersing us in gigantic worlds that seem to go on forever – until you take three steps and bump into the living room wall that you forgot was there. Now, computer scientists have developed a system that can trick you into walking around in circles in the real world, while thinking you're moving longer distances in the virtual world. … …
***
Living on in youthfulness sounds so good, but what could possibly go wrong when designer viruses act as vehicles to deliver goods that iron out the aging wrinkles in targeted human cells?  Could we end up with a hell on earth?  Is it God’s mercy to have cut mortal human average lifespan from near 1000 to 120 and to now, “threescore and ten, and if by reason of strength, fourscore”?
https://newatlas.com/reverse-aging-cell-wrinkles-virus-delivery/54820/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-30%20144145%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-30%20145241%20Virgin%20Galactics%20spaceplane%20hits%20new%20heights%20in%20second%20powered%20flight&utm_content=2018-05-30%20144145%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-30%20145241%20Virgin%20Galactics%20spaceplane%20hits%20new%20heights%20in%20second%20powered%20flight+CID_bc96245203988f6cd10a26b2816f706e&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Smoothing the wrinkles in our cells could be a key to reversing aging
Science is often a piecemeal process, with each small, new discovery adding another insight into the mysterious mechanisms behind how our bodies work. A new finding from the University of Virginia School of Medicine adds another piece to the puzzle of how cells in our body degrade with age. The potentially revolutionary breakthrough reveals how our cells can wrinkle with age, resulting in genes not being expressed properly. And the solution could be a novel cellular anti-wrinkle cream, delivered by custom-built viruses. … …

***
The Great Apostasy (2 Thess. 2:3);  It will be “as in the days of Lot (Sodom),” says the Lord (Luke 17:28) —  Abominable Sin Baptized as Christian Faith and service.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/26/transgender-people-encouraged-become-priests-church-england/
Transgender people encouraged to become priests in Church of England diversity drive
Transgender people are being encouraged to become Church of England vicars as bishops launch a diversity drive. 
Bishops in the diocese of Lichfield have issued new guidance to parishioners and clergy reminding them that LGBT people "can be called to roles of leadership and service in the local church".
The guidance, titled "welcoming and honouring LGBT+ people", warns that the church's reputation as being unwelcoming towards gay and transgender people is stopping young people attending. 
"We very much hope that they, like everyone else, feel encouraged to serve on PCCs, or as churchwardens and worship leaders, for instance, and are supported in exploring vocations to licensed lay and ordained ministries," the guidance says. … …

***
(May 31)
The NYTimes muses on something it cannot explain — the spiritual infection that began with Columbine — the doors of darkness that have opened.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/us/school-shootings-columbine.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998ries&ref=cta
For ‘Columbiners,’ School Shootings Have a Deadly Allure
SANTA FE, Tex. — The exact reasons a teenage gunman shot his fellow students and teachers here at Santa Fe High School remain a mystery. His model for carrying it out is more clear.
The 17-year-old junior wore a black trench coat and fired a sawed-off shotgun, the same attire and weaponry used by the two gunmen who killed a dozen students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
He wore a T-shirt with the phrase “Born to Kill” on it in bold, similar in design to those worn by the Columbine attackers, which read “Wrath” and “Natural Selection.”
His crude arsenal included canisters of carbon-dioxide gas and Molotov cocktails, two types of explosives used by the Columbine gunmen.
The picture he had posted of his trench coat on Facebook showed a small red-star medallion with the Communist hammer-and-sickle on the collar, the same type of button a Columbine gunman attached to his boot.
It was not the first time a high school suddenly engulfed in gunfire and death found itself looking for clues in the random symbology of a nearly 20-year-old mass shooting that has become, it seems, the standard by which youthful gunmen across America have come to measure themselves. … …

***
(June 2)
Know Your Limits!  It is good to discipline the body, but the body is yet mortal and not yet eternal.  How many champion athletes spend many years in agony after “superman/ironman” athletic careers!  Is such “humanist idolatry” of bodily feats killing and enslaving its adherents with pain and degenerations well before their time?

http://abc13.com/health/intense-workouts-may-have-deadly-result/3550207/
Workout warning: Intense exercise may have deadly result
Intense exercise routines are leading to cases of a potential life-threatening complication called rhabdomyolysis, according to health experts.
The condition causes a breakdown of muscle tissue, releasing a damaging protein into the blood and possibly damaging the kidneys.
Muscle pain, weakness and severe swelling after intense exercise may warrant a trip to the doctor.
It could lead to permanent kidney danger and needing lifelong dialysis.
Experts say staying well hydrated can help prevent rhabdo, but your best bet is knowing your limits. … …

***
While our God owns “the cattle on a thousand hills,” He does not often work through vast shows of riches, sending his own Son into a working class family in a dusty corner of the Empire.  Another recent “televangelist” wants his followers to buy him a 50+ million dollar plane as “that is how Jesus would do it now.”  But, we are not even any longer in the days of the great missionary 19th century, and personal presence of human luminaries is often not necessary in an internet connected Age.  What a mess, “the Great Apostasy”?
https://pjmedia.com/faith/joel-osteens-church-has-a-90-million-annual-budget/
Joel Osteen’s Church Has a $90 Million Annual Budget

***
(June 3)
Now, it’s Colorado and New Mexico on the fire lines.  The Earth seems to shudder with catastrophe after catastrophe — above, on, in and under her surface — as poor humanity runs and scrambles for life.
Presently, 0% containment in both states with thousands fleeing, facing mandatory evacuation in these southwest states already under intense weather heat.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/us/wildfires-colorado-new-mexico/index.html
Thousands of acres ablaze in Colorado, New Mexico

***
“Less to Lose,” one way to look at it as more people are nearly permanently pushed “back into the Stone Age”!  The Keys is one area of many from the great losses in California fires, Mexican earthquakes, Asian floods, even the rewriting of Hawaiian landscape by volcano…etc., etc…
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article212200104.html
Grim upside for the Keys this hurricane season — thanks to Irma, there's less to lose
BIG PINE KEY 
Hurricane Irma took Dirk Lockard's truck, his tools, his house — "it folded like a house of cards" — and turned the working class island he'd called home for the past 16 years into a scene of devastation. When the Category 4 storm swept through Big Pine Key in September with 140 mph winds and five feet of storm surge, it wiped homes off the map, crumpled trailers and scattered boats around like children's toys.
Another case-in-point —
www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/us/puerto-rico-school...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WONHMmGH4uA
Puerto Rico’s Schools Are in Tumult, and Not Just Because of Hurricane Maria
Student enrollment dropped after the storm, forcing a new wave of school closings and raising fears that even more families will flee the island. … …

***
Day after day now, men and women are coming unglued in public, shedding clothes, running naked, having public sex, attacking police officers in “death by cop suicides,” etc., not to mention school shootings.  It seems, more and more, that “pandemonium” (all the demons) is loosed upon the populace.  Too many are returning to outright heathenism as they give themselves over to demonic idolatries.  It is “as the days of Lot” who “vexed his righteous soul” (Luke 17:28, 2 Peter 2:8) from day to day when Sodom ran rampant, until the fire of judgment fell.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/06/01/knife-planet-fitness-torrance/
Knife-Wielding, Snake-Dancing Man Shot By Police In Planet Fitness Parking Lot
TORRANCE (CBSLA) — A man who police say was wielding a knife was shot to death Friday by officers in the parking lot of a Planet Fitness location in Torrance.
The shooting occurred just before 9 a.m. in the 20000 block of Hawthorne Boulevard, according to Torrance police Sgt. Ronald Harris.
Officers responded to the location on “a service call involving a subject brandishing a knife in the area of Planet Fitness,” he said.
Police say the suspect – described as in his 30s -had a folding knife that was approximately four inches in length, which he was waving around in the parking lot.
Witnesses said the man was holding a snake and doing some sort of “ritualistic dance” with the snake in the parking lot, according to CBS2’s Michele Gile. … …
***
Kilauea has thus far not taken life, but steam pressures building in the main chambers could produce a nuclear-sized explosion.  Why do so many citizens in the danger zone exalt a heathen goddess, Pele, and refuse to evacuate in a timely way?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/968525/Hawaii-volcano-eruption-drone-aerial-footage-cracks-Kilauea-lava-magma
Hawaii volcano eruption: Scientists ALARMED as drone reveals mysterious CRACKS in Kilauea
A DRONE sent to investigate Hawaii's erupting Kilauea volcano has left scientists baffled after the aerial footage showed concerning changes within the main crater at the volcano's summit.
A drone mission has alarmed scientists monitoring the erupting Hawaii volcano, which has become one of the world’s most dangerous and volatile sites.Kilauea has shocked the world with streams of lava swallowing houses and giant fissures opening up across Hawaii. 
The latest aerial drone footage of the volcano has revealed dramatic changes within the volcano spotted at one of Kilauea's main craters
There are new alarming cracks and fault seen in a collapsed crater, some of which are spewing with intense steam. 
Scientists are concerned that an "expanding collapsed crater" and the debris blocking the vent could trigger a massive explosion. ... …

***
And when these things begin to come to pass, 
then look up, and lift up your heads; 
for your redemption draweth nigh.

Luke 21:28

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

May 27

Saints,

To mention a few things concerning eschatology, the study of the events of the End of the Age —  We do not yet know who the Antichrist is, and we should not try to name him for “he will be revealed in his time,” (see 2 Thess. 1-6 &ff.)  It is tempting to try to name him from among world leaders, political, military, famous, even religious, and many of them exhibit elements of the spirit of Antichrist for “the spirit of antichrist…is already in the world,” see 1 John 4:1-3.  In fact, as far as humanity is concerned, his spirit entered the world when Satan disguised himself as a serpent, probably a beautiful and enchanting one before the rightful spirit of fear of snakes came upon Man, when he first proposed a false gospel of “Ye shall be as gods,” and “Hath God said?, way back in the Garden to Eve.

Since then men from Nero to Alexander to Attila the Hun to Hitler, Mao, and Stalin, and presently such as Erdogan have been prominent antichrists, and many more.  Besides such as these, many lesser antichrists have come including even local pastors and “men of God” who are “serving” for wrong reasons — position, money, pride — and who “know not” the Lord Jesus even as they use his name.  Such were the Pharisees who crucified the Lord Jesus, and such will also make capital of you and betray you at their convenience.

Even the truest of men can stumble and sin by motivations of the Flesh, and Peter right after his noblest hour of confession of Christ, turned right around and let his Flesh tell Christ that no he will not allow him to be crucified, for which Christ rebuked him as “satan”! (see Matthew 16:15-23).  A man as great as John Wesley, who ultimately preached the Gospel to millions, by horseback and without any modern media, started out as a PhD in theology who could explain regeneration (being born again) with high intellectual accuracy but did not know the Lord Jesus himself and personally until he was moved to repentance by the Holy Spirit in a “little cottage meeting” by sincere but simpler “Jesus People” of his day in England.

So, every one of us can be subject to temptations of the Flesh which hide the spirit of antichrist in the folds of its often pleasing robes.  We can only keep straight on by continually heeding the Word of God in balance, searching it, by “being ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh thee a reason for the hope that is in thee, with meekness and fear,” see 1 Peter 3:15, and seeking “the whole counsel of God” in Acts 20:27.  Nevertheless, “God is able to keep you from falling” (Jude 1:24), else we would all be carried away by one deception or another.

Neither do we know the hour of Christ’s return for the Church, but are told to be ever ready, and that our earnest labor for the Gospel and the Saints and the Lost are chief among the ways we are to keep in watching and prayer.  Often over-zealous or wrongly motivated voices would convince us that Christ will come in such-and-such an hour, day, month, etc., and He will come suddenly, but He has told us plainly that “… of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:36), and we must not be talked out of that by men who will say such things as “Well, that was true then, but now we know…:” etc.  Rather, let us set to the tasks before us with patience, our hearts waiting on the Lord, our minds and spirits searching the Word and abiding in it — watching for Him.

Other things should also be considered to keep our balance in these times, and I will continue to try to touch on them.  Every Age has elements of the Apocalypse in it, for Good and Evil are always working and opposing one another, and “many antichrists” arise to capitalize on Evil, but, yet, the Lord has said “…when ye shall see all these things (taken together, coming to a critical mass), know that is it near, even at the doors.” (Matthew 24:33).  And we have great reason to hope, carefully, at this time, even as the world around us descends quickly into darkness.

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(May 21)
In spite of the reporter misnaming a Baptist prayer service as a “mass,” repentance before God and seeking Him are the only good things to come from these days of judgment.  May God yet harvest souls for his Kingdom from these terrible events.  “For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh  death.”  2 Cor. 7:10

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texans-turn-god-school-rocked-latest-shooting-170109360.html
Texans turn to God as school rocked by latest shooting
Grief-stricken families in southwestern Texas gathered in churches throughout Santa Fe on Sunday seeking spiritual succor following a massacre at the town's high school, the nation's latest mass shooting.

***
(May 22)
Politics (of any stripe) and Christian Faith really don’t mix well, like oil and water.  To talk about Jesus setting up clinics or skipping co-pays is lewd politicking.  He healed supernaturally, as God, and left it to us to help with the poor, etc. with the aid of his Spirit, but these descriptions make him into a political operative, a “community organizer.”  Garbage babble of the spirit of antichrist?  Still co-opting his name for political agendas.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/21/christian-religious-left-william-barber-poor-peoples-campaign
'Jesus never charged a leper a co-pay': the rise of the religious left
In his prayer at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem last week, a prayer delivered against a backdrop of violence in Gaza, the evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress said Donald Trump was a moral leader who stood “on the right side of you, O God”.
Half a world away, outside the Capitol in Washington, the Rev William Barber led a moment of silence for the 60 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers.
As one group of faith leaders celebrates the fruits of a decades-long alliance with the Republican party, another is mounting a multi-faith challenge to the dominance of the Christian right, in an attempt to recapture the moral agenda.
“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant.”
Frustrated by conservative Christians’ focus on culture wars over issues such as abortion and gay marriage, Barber leads an ascendent grassroots movement that is trying to turn the national conversation to what they believe are the core teachings of the Bible: care for the poor, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. … …

***
The “sidekick” of the Antichrist will be the False Prophet in John’s Revelation.  Along with the Antichrist, he shall “think to change times and laws.”  Many observers believe he will be the last leader over a worldwide church that will worship the Beast.  Throughout biblical history, perverted sex has been listed as a damning sin. The New Testament even more specifically cites these doctrines of God, but the flood gates of Sodom are opening in these last days.  As with Sodom, God will judge.  Both Antichrist and False Prophet will be cast into the Lake of Fire, even long before the Devil himself is finally dumped there for eternity too.  Unrepentant fornicators, adulterers and adulteresses, homosexuals, practicers of effeminancy (dragqueens, voluntary catamites, etc.) will also be cast into hell, along with every other sinner who does not repent and turn to the grace and mercy of Christ.  Lord, save many children who have been led or forced into these associations by the wicked.

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-pope-chile-gay-20180520-story.html
Pope's reported comment to a gay man may indicate a new level of acceptance of homosexuality
Pope Francis has reportedly told a gay man that "God made you that way and loves you as you are," apparently pushing the pontiff's acceptance of homosexuality to a new level.
Francis made the comments to Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean victim of priestly sexual abuse who recently spent days with the pope at the Vatican to discuss his ordeal as the pontiff moves to tackle decades of coverups and ostracism of victims in the Chilean church, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Cruz was quoted as having discussed his homosexuality with Francis. "He told me: 'Juan Carlos, I don't care about you being gay. God made you that way and loves you as you are and I don't mind. The pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.' "
A spokesman at the Vatican on Sunday declined to confirm or deny Francis' comments, stating, "We don't normally comment on the pope's private conversations." … …

***

So, what’s next for “the Scouts”?  Will they be a new “Hitler Youth” for the Antichrist?  Tillerson supported the sodomite agenda for them, and has God removed him from Secretary of State?  May God quickly judge those who prey on young ones.

http://www.wnd.com/2018/05/condoms-required-at-scouts-24th-world-jamboree/
CONDOMS REQUIRED AT SCOUTS' 24TH WORLD JAMBOREE
Rules demand distribution during coming 12-day 'camping' event

The Scouts say: “For the first time, a world jamboree will be hosted by three national Scout organizations: Scouts Canada, Asociación de Scouts de México, and the Boy Scouts of America. These three distinct cultures will join together to host the world Scouting community in a celebration of cultural exchange, mutual understanding, peace, and friendship.”
With condoms.

Commenting on the condom policy, John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, wrote that “it is not clear how far down the rabbit hole the Boy Scouts will continue to fall.”
“With the addition of condoms and alcohol, the World Jamboree is starting to sound more like a 1960s Woodstock festival rather than a campout that parents would want to send their children to!”
Stemberger also serves as chairman of the board for Trail Life USA, an alternative to the Scouts that continues to abide by the Boy Scout motto: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the scout law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” … …

*** 
Like Gulliver pulled down by the Lilliputians?  The strong and successful, the present icons of product and service advertising, can also fall…to squatters? Starbucks falters; will it come down?  Was it set up?
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/05/20/starbucks-policy-changes-local-reactions/
Mixed Reactions To Starbucks Allowing Non-Customers To Use Restrooms

***
Ireland, yet giddy over its newfound “liberalisms,” still waffles on the genocide of abortion.  May God turn Ireland back toward the Gospel through its remaining conscience.  May they defeat legalized abortion in the 25 May ballot. (See the sad news below.)

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2018/05/21/ireland-enthusiastic-about-gay-rights-frets-over-abortion/Z6Dc7Ohnx2jDw0Nf7pyyiI/story.html
Ireland, enthusiastic about gay rights, frets over abortion

CARRIGTWOHILL, Ireland — When it comes to the Roman Catholic Church, Judy Donnelly has been something of a rebel. Like much of Ireland, she supported contraception, voted in a referendum to legalize divorce and, three years ago, backed same-sex marriage.
That last vote was joyously celebrated around the country and the world, placing Ireland, which elected its first gay prime minister last year, at the vanguard of what many called a social revolution.
But when it comes to the historic decision on legalizing abortion, which will be put to the nation Friday, Donnelly says she will vote no, as will enough of her countrymen and women, including lawmakers across the political divide, to throw the referendum result into doubt.
Polls for the May 25 vote have narrowed so tightly in recent weeks that “yes” and “no” campaigners are not able to confidently predict a victory.
“It’s just not the same,” said Donnelly, 46, who works in a pub in Carrigtwohill. “It’s about values and morals.”
Even if Ireland is becoming more culturally liberal in many respects, opposition to abortion is deeply ingrained. To some, abortion amounts to murder rather than being about liberal cultural values. … …

***
(May 23)
The centuries-old, unbiblical, forced celibacy of RCC ministers seems to have resulted in cloaked, hypocritical fornication, homosexuality and pedophilia in those ranks.  Now, will the RCC “come out”?  If so, there may be opportunity to help conservative Catholics escape to biblical Faith.  Lord God, save in the midst of these confusions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-catholic-churchs-looming-fight-over-same-sex-blessings-1527009408?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp&yptr=yahoo
The Catholic Church’s Looming Fight Over Same-Sex Blessings
As some bishops call for blessing gay unions, where does Pope Francis stand?
ROME—Reports that Pope Francis told a sex-abuse victim that God made him gay have drawn headlines this week, with many observers inferring a new level of acceptance of homosexuality, which the catechism of the Catholic Church describes as “objectively disordered.”
The Vatican spokesman declined to confirm or deny the statement, citing a policy of not commenting on the pope’s private conversations.
But no aspect of Pope Francis’ five-year reign has been better known or more controversial than his conciliatory approach to gay people, most famously expressed in his 2013 words about gay priests: “Who am I to judge?”
Conservatives have been prompt to argue that Pope Francis’ statements on homosexuality, confirmed or otherwise, don’t conflict with church teaching or suggest toleration of homosexual acts, but simply reflect the basic Christian message of God’s love for all people.
Yet the pope’s stance has encouraged a greater openness to homosexuality among the church’s hierarchy, leading to calls for the appreciation not just of gay people but of gay relationships. That trend is straining any appearance of a consensus on the subject within the church. … …

***
Terminator Science Coming True —  Remember how “Ahnold’s” Android-persona, “The Terminator,” sought circuit reroutes when damaged and how his next generation nemesis the T-1000 was made of “poly-metal liquid-metal alloys”  that could reshape and reconfigure even better and more quickly?  Now happening—

https://newatlas.com/bio-inspired-self-healing-elastomer-gallium-alloy/54711/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-23%20142807%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-23%20143421%20The%20adventure%20and%20camper%20vans%20of%20Overland%20Expo%20West%202018&utm_content=2018-05-23%20142807%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-23%20143421%20The%20adventure%20and%20camper%20vans%20of%20Overland%20Expo%20West%202018+CID_be820858e8425b28190ec1cb54072ee6&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more

Self-healing material for bio-inspired robotics
Researchers have developed a self-healing material that could help machines repair themselves – even after "extreme mechanical damage." Not only does the material make physical repairs, but in doing so it can restore severed electrical connections: a potentially huge benefit to machines and robots in hazardous environments. If self-repairing machines sound like something out of the Terminator films, you may be closer to the mark than you think ... the breakthrough depends upon liquid metal.

***
(May 24)
Nations versus Globalism — Italy says no to Globalism — Troubles abound for Europe.  For all their fallen flaws, God establishes the nations, and they will remain at least through the 1000 year Reign of Christ on Earth.  Globalism is part of the One World strategy of the Antichrist to usurp Christ and God’s Established Order.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/927723/Italian-election-results-polls-2018-Italy-EU-Di-Maio-Salvini-M5S-Lega-Brussels
Italian election results: 'Brussels is WORRIED' Expert warns of EU chaos as populists WIN
THE ITALIAN election results have sparked real concerns in Brussels with more than 50 per cent of Italians favouring eurosceptic parties at the polls, according to Giuliano Bifolchi.

***
(May 25)
Click-Bait or genuine cryptid hybrid?  Werewolf?  At minimum, the story shows what gets our attention, what lies in our collective minds of primal events and misconstructions.  At maximum, it shows the science of the Nephilim is turning up again, ungodly hybridized beasts.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/05/24/mysterious-wolf-creature-shot-montana/642775002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
Wolfdog, direwolf or dogman? Mysterious wolf-like creature shot in Montana

(excerpt):…Nonetheless, there remains an element of uncertainty about the creature, even among wildlife biologists. 
"Several things grabbed my attention when I saw the pictures," said Ty Smucker, wolf management specialist for Montana FWP. "The ears are too big. The legs look a little short. The feet look a little small, and the coat looks weird. There's just something off about it."
Smucker's own speculation runs toward some type of wolf/dog hybrid. He noted several occasions within the last few years in which canid predators, neither all wolf nor all dog were causing problems with ranchers east of the Continental Divide.
"We've had a few instances of wolf/dog hybrids out there," Smucker said. "One was out somewhere in eastern central Montana killing sheep like crazy. Finally, we caught it and it turned out to be a hybrid." … …

***
False Cures for Sick Souls (The sorcerous world of Big Pharma).  True new birth in Christ is the only real comfort and strength for the soul—
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/05/23/study-links-some-drugs-to-dementia/
Study Links Some Antidepressants, Bipolar Medications, Parkinson’s Drugs To Dementia

Obesity may arrive from many contributing factors, but are sadness and depression among them?
https://m.newstimes.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Taking-antidepressants-could-be-linked-to-weight-12940170.php
Taking antidepressants could be linked to weight gain, according to a new study — and some drugs heighten the risk more than others

***
(May 26)
Another “shooting of the day” in the slaughterhouse of the schoolyards.  May God guide the bullets away from his children and our children.  A wounded teacher becomes a hero for taking the bullets to disarm the middle-schooler-aged shooter.

https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/nation-now/indiana-school-shooting-injures-student-teacher-suspected-shooter-detained/465-2bb5b60a-8187-4beb-87fb-71636e5e3761
Indiana school shooting injures student, teacher; suspected shooter detained

***
Deeper and Deeper into the Matrix, Artificial Reality, Cyber-Opiate Dreamland? How to cast a spell on the yielded brain?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611189/now-playing-a-movie-you-control-with-your-mind/
Now playing: a movie you control with your mind
Usually when you watch a film, you sit back in your chair, eyes trained on a screen, as the story unfolds. It’s a lot different when you watch one of Richard Ramchurn’s latest films.
Ramchurn, a graduate student at the University of Nottingham in Nottingham, England, is an artist and director who has spent the last several years creating films that you can control with your mind—simply by putting on a $100 headset that detects electrical activity in your brain. With this EEG headset on, scenes, music, and animation change every time you watch it, depending on the meanderings of your mind.
Ramchurn’s latest work, a 27-minute avant-garde tale called The Moment that (no surprise) explores a dark future where brain-computer interfaces are the norm, is nearly complete. While finishing up editing work, Ramchurn has started screening it in a small trailer around Nottingham, where six to eight people can sit and view it at once. (Just one of them controls it while the others observe.) He will also show it at a film festival in Sheffield, England, in June.
If you’re wearing the headset, a NeuroSky MindWave, while watching The Moment, it will track your level of attention by measuring electrical activity within a frequency range believed to correspond with attentiveness (though it should be noted that there are doubts about how well devices like this can actually do such tracking). The continually computed score is sent wirelessly to a laptop, where Ramchurn’s specially built software uses it to alter the editing of the scenes, the flow of the background music, and more. You don’t have to move a muscle. … …

***
Praise God for brother Pence!  (Bible Believers must weigh all public gospels.  In my last blog, last entry, noting my own distrust, I nevertheless found hope in the sermon of the Episcopalian preacher who preached the wedding sermon for the British Prince and his American Bride, BUT, since then, I find my charity must be withdrawn as the man is preaching a “love” for “all God’s children” that condones continuing in sodomite practices   Such transformations of the Gospel are the work of the spirit of Antichrist in these Last Days. “Beware lest any man deceive you, for many shall come in my name and shall deceive many…” —see Matthew 24:4-5 for an example of varied New Testament warnings.)
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2018/may/exclusive-video-vice-president-pence-tells-pastors-share-the-gospel
Exclusive Video: Vice
President Pence Tells Pastors: 'Share The Gospel!'
In a last second surprise appearance before a pastors conference in Washington DC, Vice President Mike Pence outlined how the Trump administration has championed causes important to the evangelical community and implored them to continue to, "share the good news of Jesus Christ.”
“Other than the service of those who wear the uniform of the United States especially our cherished fallen, the ministries that you lead and the prayers that you pray are the greatest consequence in the life of the nation,” the vice-president told those attending the 2018 Watchman on the Wall Conference sponsored by the Family Research Council.
“Keep preaching the good news. Keep preaching in season and out of season as the Bible says. Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have," he continued.

***
Big Brother is not only watching you; he’s hacking your audio and passing it around!

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611216/yes-alexa-is-recording-mundane-details-of-your-life-and-its-creepy-as-hell/
Yes, Alexa is recording mundane details of your life, and it’s creepy as hell
I’m not kicking our smart speaker out of the house just yet, but the consequences of having it in my family’s life are becoming clear.
Since last year I’ve had a smart speaker in my living room—an Echo Dot. My family uses it mostly to ask Amazon’s digital assistant, Alexa, to play music. But after I saw a report that an Alexa-enabled speaker owned by a family in Portland, Oregon, had recorded a conversation and sent it to a contact, I started wondering: what is it picking up on at my house when we’re not talking to it directly?
So I checked my Alexa history (you can do that through the “settings” portion of the Amazon Alexa smartphone app) to see what kinds of things it recorded without my knowledge.
That’s when the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up.
Beyond all the things I’ve clearly asked Alexa to do, in the past several months it has also tuned in, frequently several times a day, for no obvious reason. It’s heard me complain to my dad about something work-related, chide my toddler about eating dinner, and talk to my husband—the kinds of normal, everyday things you say at home when you think no one else is listening.
And that’s precisely why it’s terrifying: this sort of mundane chitchat is my mundane chitchat. I invited Alexa into our living room to make it easier to listen to Pandora and occasionally check the weather, not to keep a log of intimate family details or record my kid saying “Mommy, we going car” and forward it to Amazon’s cloud storage.

In the Amazon Alexa app (the iOS version is shown here), you can listen to and delete individual recordings. Hitting the Back button will bring you to the most recent one on the list.
Computing has marched toward ubiquity for years, and I’ve long been stuck between feeling and disturbed by the idea of having gadgets all around me that can track and do all kinds of things. As Amazon, Apple, and Google have ushered in their digital assistants over the past several years, I’ve rolled my eyes at some features and raised my eyebrows at others. But it wasn’t until this week that the reality set in—for me and, I’m guessing, for many other consumers—about what this constant accessibility truly means.
For example: there is a very real trade-off if you want to let technology decide when and what to listen to. Relying on wake words like “Alexa!” or “Hey, Siri” is sometimes wishful thinking. Bits of your private conversations may no longer be ephemeral, and it’s largely outside your control. And your kids may be accidentally triggering the smart speaker to start recording them, too.
I acknowledge my responsibility here as a consumer. I knew the array of seven microphones I had put in the center of my house could hear what we were saying and act on it. I also knew that things we asked Alexa to do were being recorded and sent to Amazon, and that I could play back these recordings and delete them if I wanted to.
But it’s actually quite frustrating to sort through them. You can scroll through months’ worth in the app, but after you select and listen to one, tapping the Back button brings you to the very top of the list again. Deleting hundreds of rogue recordings one by one in this way would take me a very long time. I could delete everything, including the legitimate recordings, in one go, but Amazon warns that this will make Alexa work less well, so of course I’m unlikely to do it.
I haven’t yet decided if Alexa will be leaving our home; I’m going to talk it over with my family first. But you can bet the Echo Dot’s microphone will be muted while we discuss it.

*** 
Update on officially confirmed Navy UFO sightings and videos from last December’s major UFO Event.  It seems highly plausible biblically that UFOs are manifestations of fallen angels, specifically perhaps a species called Ophanim, perhaps the ones seen by Ezekiel, or of the remnant of the hybrid offspring of the fallen ones, the Nephilim.
http://bgr.com/2018/05/24/ufo-navy-sighting-video-report-details/
New report reveals even more freaky details about the UFO that shocked the US Navy
UFO sightings are a dime a dozen these days, and they have been for a while, but back in December the New York Times released the results of an investigation into the US military’s monitoring of UFO claims and came up with something totally wild. It was a video released by the Pentagon that shows US Navy pilots tracking the movements of a totally unexplainable aircraft. Now, a local news team from Las Vegas has obtained a military report that offers even more details on the sighting, and the story is somehow becoming even more bizarre than it already was.
The report (PDF here) explains in great details how a US Navy aircraft carrier played a strange game of hide and seek with multiple Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) that demonstrated flight characteristics that should be downright impossible to pull off.
The sightings began on November 10, 2004, and lasted for several days. The objects would appear on the carrier’s radar systems for short periods, seeming to hover still, and then fly off at high speeds.
Confused by exactly what was going on, the crew decided to investigate. When the object appeared again a few days later a pair of F/A-18Fs was directed to check out the strange signals. The result is the now famous video showing the “Tic-Tac” shaped UFO cruising along at incredibly high speeds and making rapid changes in altitude.
In the new report, the object is described as “solid white, smooth, with no edges,” and being “uniformly colored with no nacelles, pylons, or wings.” The report says the object was estimated to be about 46 feet long. By comparison, the F/A-18 fighters that were trailing it measure around 56 feet in length, meaning that whatever it was that the Navy spotted could feasibly hold one or more human-sized individuals.
The pilot said they never felt as though the object was a threat, but the report notes that the AAV seemed to react to the presence of the jets, “demonstrating an advanced acceleration, aerodynamic, and propulsion capability.”
Throughout the several days of seeing the object come and go, the Navy says it may have demonstrated the ability to “cloak” and disappear to the human eye. Its rapid descent from 60,000 feet to just 50 feet before disappearing also made officials consider the possibility that it was capable of operating underwater, effortlessly moving from the air to the sea at will.
It’s all pretty freaky.

*** 
May 27)
The Irish commit slow societal and spiritual suicide, commending elective abortion —

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-ireland-abortion-election-results-20180526-story.html
Irish voters overwhelmingly repeal abortion ban in historic referendum

***
The Rise of the Drones.  Like the Internet and the Smart Phone, This could change everything:  Buzzing Robots of All Sizes Doing Everything around the house and grounds or across the state in an hour, for better and for worse!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/26/volans-i-drones-can-haul-cargo-for-500-miles-and-land-on-a-moving-ship.html
These drones can haul a 20-pound load for 500 miles and land on a moving target
A start-up called Volans-i is building drones that can deliver heavy parts over long distances, even to a ship that's sailing at sea. This kind of technology could have saved the Titanic, CEO and co-founder Hannan Parvizian quipped.
The company shared footage of a recent test flight over Lake Pleasant in Arizona with CNBC where its drones took off from and landed on platforms attached to moving boats.
Volans-i's drones are able to travel for up to 500 miles carrying 20 pounds of cargo at a time at a top speed of 200 miles per hour. (A delivery from Los Angeles to San Francisco would take three to four hours.) They are able to do this by employing fixed wings along with vertical-take-off-and-landing systems for flight, and both batteries and fuel for propulsion.
Because the Volans-i drones can take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform, the company and its customers don't have to build any special infrastructure to make or take deliveries. … …

***

“Watch therefore: 
For ye know not 
what hour your Lord 
doth come.”
Matthew 24:42

*************************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

May 20

Saints,

As tides turn and spirits twist and manifest in the Middle East, and toward the events of the Second Coming and the End of the Age, we also see another young man sink under demonic influence and sin’s spells to cast his own life, body, soul, and spirit into the caverns of prisons for the rest of his life by taking the lives of ten others in the latest surge of this epidemic of school shootings, another sign of the utter moral decay of Western Civilization, of the ruin of the liberty of democracy, and of the antichrist demise of so-called “Christendom” into complete debauchery. The Scriptures promise a great “falling away” rather than some huge mainstream revival, and we seem to be in the midst of it.

Let us search the Word steadily and call upon the Lord the Spirit to keep us from deceptions, for they are all around, and their voices outnumber the voices that call for the Truth.  Many, both utter sinners and pretend religionists rush after every raised voice, but we know thet God (also) is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:24.  If God is not our ever-present help (which He is), we would all be turned aside and lost.  We must earnestly, from the heart, worship him, and utterly desire (even though we fail and fall short) to seek to obey him.  And this must not be burdensome or dreadful but our chief desire.

Lord, help us to walk after brother Paul who instructed us, “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God,” in I Corinthians 4:1.  Let us so walk.

Remember also that these links are the observations of the world in which we hope to see the signs of the times and of the Lord’s coming.  In some cases, they may be “fake news,” only things to make us separate into fearful camps or bait us with “click candy,” etc., YET, if we will keep Bible in hand, and watch and pray accordingly, we may see the things the Lord has carefully taught us to watch for.

God keep us, keep our loved ones whom we pray for, and save from and help us testify to the myriad in the the seas of Lostness all around us.

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
(May 13)
Click-bait giants?  Got time for following a little click bait?  Photos of Andre the Giant and others, with the medical terminology for their condition.  None are yet as big as Goliath and his brothers, and even he appears to have genetically deteriorated from earlier Nephilim giants, but could these modern examples demonstrate that some Nephilim genetics may remain in the overall human genome?  The Giants and their wickedness and perversions of angel/human/animal, etc. hybrids were the reasons for the judgment of the Flood.  But even by Genesis 6:4, we are told that other, lesser incursions of Nephilim occurred after the Flood, and we see the first mentions of such in Numbers 13:33.  What things still lurk in the DNA?  And, again, Jesus says it will be “as in the days of Noah” when it is time for his return.

http://www.tiebreaker.com/largest-athletes/?utm_source=ouins&utm_campaign=00eb4a731be7754809914d22517950ad29&utm_term=NY+Post_Sports_00fcc1c0bb98ef35708b7b4263064632b5&utm_request=7cb00a1eed4586378f73ed0462190872&utm_content=newnext&utm_medium=K_OS_TB_US_D_LargestAthletes_v3_0705
30 of the Most Unbelievably Larger than Life Athletes

*** ***
(May 14) 
May 14 — A very important demarcation date?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-israel-celebrates-dream-of-independence-many-see-nightmare-taking-shape/ar-AAxeaTO?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss
As Israel Celebrates Dream of Independence, Many See Nightmare Taking Shape
JERUSALEM — When Israel declared its independence in 1948, President Harry Truman rushed to recognize it. He took just 11 minutes, and Israelis, about to go to war to defend their infant state, were euphoric.
Seventy years to the day — and nearly as long since Israel declared the holy city of Jerusalem its “eternal capital” — the United States will formally open its embassy on a hilltop here two miles south of the Western Wall.
The embassy’s move from Tel Aviv and President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — reversing decades of American foreign policy — comes at a moment so fraught with both pride and peril that Israelis seem not to know what to feel.
Israelis find it hard to rejoice when they find themselves doing some of the same things they did back in 1948: listening for civil-defense sirens, readying bomb shelters and calling in reinforcements to confront threats to the north, south and east.
An escalating shadow war with Iran has broken into the open, pitting Israel against its most powerful adversary in the region. A mass protest in Gaza has spurred thousands of Palestinians, encouraged by Hamas, to try to cross into Israel, whose snipers have killed scores and wounded thousands of them. The bloodshed has brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back onto the international agenda after years as an afterthought. … …

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/gaza-news/IDF-braces-for-violence-in-Gaza-West-Bank-556277
IDF BRACES FOR VIOLENCE IN GAZA, WEST BANK AHEAD OF EMBASSY MOVE
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: We will turn the Nakba that ended Palestine into a Nakba that ends the Zionist enterprise.

After a week of peaking tensions in the Golan Heights, Israel’s defense establishment is bracing for a week of violent confrontations along the border fence with the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank.
With the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday followed by Nakba Day and the beginning of Ramadan on Tuesday, the IDF is gearing up for several days of violence in its most explosive arenas.
Thousands of soldiers from 11 battalions, including from the Nahal and Givati brigades, as well as special forces and intelligence-gathering units, the Armored Corps, snipers and drones will reinforce the troops already deployed.
As part of preparations, the training of regular combat troops has also been paused in order to focus efforts to dealing with the possible disturbances.
Gazans have been protesting along the border with Israel for the past six weeks as part of what organizers have called the Great March of Return, with demonstrators throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and rocks, as well as launching incendiary kites, toward Israeli troops.
But this week’s mass protests are expected to be much more aggressive.
Israel is accusing Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out terror attacks and says it has identified intentions by protesters to destroy engineering equipment belonging to the army, damage security infrastructure on the fence and attempt to kidnap soldiers.
The IDF is expecting tens of thousands of protesters at some 20 sites along the Gaza border fence. The Southern Command is preparing for masses of protesters, including armed activists and children, to attempt to breach the fence.
The army has warned that if security infrastructure is damaged, the IDF will strike infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip, warning that “Hamas is responsible for everything that is happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and in light of this, it bears overall responsibility for all events and their consequences.” … …

https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-nearly-double-gaza-border-west-bank-forces-190329772.html
Israel to boost Gaza border, West Bank forces for US embassy move
Jerusalem (AFP) - The Israeli army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank to tackle Palestinian protests against Monday's controversial opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem.
Three additional infantry brigades will be deployed next week, two around the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank, army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters on Saturday. … 

https://apnews.com/3ca11c28306c4a4f8636696566f3e0b3/Israel-prepares-for-opening-of-US-Embassy-in-Jerusalem
Israel kicks off US Embassy celebration, boosts border force
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Sunday kicked off festivities to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, even as it bolstered its forces along the Gaza border and in the West Bank in anticipation of mass Palestinian protests of the move.
A day before the embassy’s formal opening, Israel hosted a gala party at its Foreign Ministry with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and other American VIPs.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “bold decision” in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “It’s the right thing to do,” a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd.
Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem in December, triggering a joyous reaction from Netanyahu’s nationalist government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks. … …

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/top-israeli-football-team-adds-12529965
Top Israeli football team adds 'Trump' to their name in honour of US President ahead of embassy move
In a statement, the club said: "President Trump has shown courage and true love of the Israeli people and their capital"

One of Israel's top football teams last night announced it was adding the word “Trump” to its name in honour of the US President. 
In an extraordinary move Beitar Jerusalem, who have played in the Champions League, announced they would now be called Beitar Trump Jerusalem.
It's to pay tribute to Trump for his decision to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.
In a statement they said: "The chairmen of the club, the owner Eli Tabib and the executive manager Eli Ohana have decided to add to the club's title the name of the American President who made history, and from now on will be called Beitar Trump Jerusalem.
“We have the greatest love for the president, and we will win. … …
 
Jews incite…but at the site of Zion that is divinely, biblically theirs —
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5259137,00.html
Jews, Arabs clash on Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day
Jewish visitors sing songs, while Arabs call out 'Allahu Akbar,' leading police forces to remove the Jewish visitors; Jerusalem Police: 'Visitors broke rules of conduct at the site, created provocation.'

Clashes broke out between Jews and Arabs on the Temple Mount on Sunday morning, which is Jerusalem Day.
According to eye witnesses, the Jews who entered the holy site were singing, while the Arabs called out "Allahu Akbar."
Police forces that arrived at the scene had to separate the warring sides and remove the Jews from the Temple Mount.
The Jerusalem Police said that several Jewish visitors broke the rules of conduct and created provocation, leading to their removal from the site.
Nevertheless, visits to the Temple Mount were allowed to continue. … …

 *** ***

As in medieval eras, the walls have been assaulted but not breached and the invaders have been repelled — this time.  God save whosoever will.
NYTimes — Breaking News — May 14, 2019 — 8:32 a.m.
Israel responded with rifle fire to a mass attempt by Palestinians to cross a border fence, killing at least 28, Palestinian officials said
At least 1,000 Palestinian demonstrators were also wounded along the border fence with Gaza, the Health Ministry reported, as the mass protests that began on March 30 and that had already left dozens dead erupted again.
(Later death tolls are running much higher, sixty or more with hundreds or thousands more wounded or injured.)

***
Popular Move toward Mark of the Beast Technology in Sweden —

https://www.yahoo.com/news/microchips-under-skin-technophile-swedes-033147071.html
Microchips get under the skin of technophile Swedes
.\***
Romney belongs to a “respectable and successful” cult, the Mormons, who co-opt Jesus’s Name as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” but they preach a false Jesus (antichrist errors), claim that Adam is God (religious humanist blasphemy), and teach many other critical errors, supplanting the Scriptures with works of their own from the 19th century, “The Book of Mormon,” “Doctrines and Covenants,”  fables and myths based on one man’s supposed but unsubstantiated viewing of secret , inscribed “golden plates,” etc. —

https://www.timesofisrael.com/romney-slams-trumps-choice-of-bigot-pastor-for-jerusalem-embassy-prayer/
Romney slams Trump’s choice of ‘bigot’ pastor for Jerusalem embassy prayer
Evangelical Baptist minister Robert Jeffress has made disparaging remarks against gays, Jews, Mormons and Islam

WASHINGTON — Senate candidate Mitt Romney of Utah said Sunday a prominent Baptist minister shouldn’t be giving the prayer that opens the US Embassy in Jerusalem because he’s a “religious bigot.”
In a tweet, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee criticized Dallas minister Robert Jeffress for his remarks about Jews, Mormons and Islam.
The Jerusalem Open House on Monday also lambasted Jeffress’s participation, saying he had in the past called gay rights promoters “pedophilia activists” and said homosexuality was a “perversion.”   Jeffress, a Southern Baptist who vigorously supported Trump during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign and was a member of his evangelical advisory board, will say a prayer at Monday’s embassy opening in Jerusalem. … …

***
(May 15)
Tabloid spirituality.  If this were an angel, his appearance would be an allowance as no eternal, holy angel can be tricked by a motion activated camera.  Yet, it still could be, for God grants some allowances such as the strange recurring phenomenon reported by the New Testament Scriptures (Jn. 5:4) that, at certain times, an angel did descend upon the Pool of Bethesda to perform healings of the sick folk waiting there for him, but our faith does not rest in appearances, for our Enemy also can appear “as an angel of light” said Paul in 2 Cor. 11:14.  Our Faith rests on the Word of God by which assurance we know that angels, both holy and unholy, exist and do work as messengers and powerful agents between the spiritual worlds and mankind.  Careful.

http://upnorthlive.com/news/offbeat/could-a-security-camera-have-captured-a-miracle
Pastor says security camera captured a miracle
EAST JORDAN, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) - Do you believe in miracles?
A group of people in East Jordan believe they have come across one.
“I said ‘That’s an angel!’ And I was just blown away," said Glen Thorman, whose security camera captured the image. "I couldn’t wait to send it to my wife and send it to Deneille. And I said ‘I got an angel, and my camera took a picture of an angel.'"
The camera is only activated by a motion sensor.
On Wednesday, it emailed him a picture that shows what he says looks like an angel hovering over his truck, then moving out of the frame. … …
*** 
“There be monsters!”  CRISP-Cas9 on the loose (in basement and garage labs).
http://www.usworldnewstoday.com/as-d-i-y-gene-editing-gains-popularity-someone-is-going-to-get-hurt/
As D.I.Y. Gene Editing Gains Popularity, ‘Someone Is Going to Get Hurt’
excerpt:  “If they’re willing to inject themselves with hormones to make their muscles bigger, you can imagine they’d be willing to test more powerful things,” he added. “Anyone who does synthetic biology should be under surveillance, and anyone who does it without a license should be suspect.”

***
(May 16)
https://nypost.com/2018/05/14/jewish-dreams-of-jerusalem-as-israels-capital-go-back-thousands-of-years/
Jewish dreams of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital go back thousands of years
In the Second century AD, Jewish rebels who had stunned the Romans and liberated a portion of Judea, overstruck imperial coins with images and a message of their own, “Year One of the Redemption of Jerusalem.”
The Roman emperor Hadrian had planted the seeds for the rebellion with his ambitions to remake Jerusalem, including the planned construction of a Temple to Jupiter on the site of the old Jewish Temple.
The leader of the Jewish rebellion, Bar Kokhba, was fired by a vision of a united Israel with Jerusalem as its capital that had been the exception during the prior millennium, thanks to the depredations of the Assyrians and Babylonians, among others. But such was the power of the national idea — and his messianic zeal — that Bar Kokhba ventured all on regaining it. … …
***
North Korean leader reverts to the usual games?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-threatens-to-cancel-us-summit/ar-AAxjOft?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss
North Korea threatens to cancel US summit
North Korea threatened Wednesday to cancel the forthcoming summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if Washington seeks to push Pyongyang into unilaterally giving up its nuclear arsenal.
It also cancelled high-level talks due Wednesday with Seoul over the Max Thunder joint military exercises being held between the United States and South Korea, denouncing the drills as a "rude and wicked provocation".
It is a sudden and dramatic return to the the rhetoric of the past by Pyongyang, after months of rapid diplomatic rapprochement on the peninsula. … …

***
God knew / knows what He was / is doing in shortening mortal life from near 1000 to 120 to an average of 70-80.  Life in this mortal world is fraught with difficulty.  He shows his mercy.  This woman, at 128, testifies to it.  God save her!
(So much for the Transhumanists’ lust for immortality in bodies and minds full of fallen transgressions and ever subject to sin.)

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/oldest-living-person-ever-128-12543657
'Oldest living person ever at 128' wishes she had died young and says her longevity is "a punishment"
"Tired" Koku Istambulova says she hasn't enjoyed a single happy day in her life and has "no idea" how she has lived so long

***
(May 16)
Is Turkey’s (supposedly NATO supporter / member) Despot Erdogan now becoming fully possessed by the Prince of Gog?  He rallies “all of Islam” against Israel, preparing for Ezekiel’s WW3.  God says, “Behold, I will put a hook in thy jaws (mouth? speech?) to draw thee forth to battle.” (see 38:3)

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/05/15/561820/Turkey-OIC--Binali-Yildirim--Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan
Turkey urges Islamic world to unite against Israel, calls summit
Turkey has urged Islamic countries to review their ties with Israel after dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told his ruling party in parliament that Ankara would call an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
"Islamic countries should without fail review their relations with Israel," Premier Yildirim said, adding, “The Islamic world should move as one, with one voice, against this massacre."
Yildirim said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the body, called the OIC summit on Friday.
Yildirim said that after the summit at 3:00 pm a giant rally would be held at the vast Yenikapi meeting area in Istanbul under the slogan of "Stop the Oppression" to express solidarity with the Palestinians.
"This has nothing to do with party politics. This is to show solidarity, brotherhood and togetherness," he said.
"The Islamic world should move as one, with one voice, against this massacre," Yildirim added.
Ankara has reacted with fury to the killing Monday of 60 Palestinians in clashes and protests, on the same day as the United States formally moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem al-Quds from Tel Aviv in defiance of international outrage.
Ankara said it was recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Israel for consultations in the wake of the events. … …

***
The fools of hell?  Reminiscent of “Nero fiddling while Rome burned”?
(Click link to see photos.  God extends mercy to fools or none of us would be saved.)
http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2018/05/16/crazy-golfers-brave-erupting-volcano-hawaii-sneak-round-photos
PHOTOS: Golfers brave erupting volcano in Hawaii to sneak in a round
Since May 3, residents of Hawaii's Big Island have been struggling with the fallout from the recent and ongoing eruption of the Kilauea volcano. But that didn't stop a group of golfers from playing a few holes on Tuesday.
Photographer Mario Tama captured images of two men playing golf in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with the massive ash plumes from Kilauea rising behind them, which you can see below.

***
(May 18)
The Stark Contrast of Iniquity — and yet both sides of the coin are filled with transgression —

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/17/america-gilded-age-excesses-extremes-mansions-homeless-trump/610748002/
In the second Gilded Age, the mansions get bigger, and the homeless get closer
THE CAPITAL OF AMERICA’S SECOND GILDED AGE IS LOS ANGELES, WHERE HOMES WORTH TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOOK OUT OVER A CITY IN WHICH THE MIDDLE CLASS STRUGGLES TO AFFORD SHELTER AND THE NUMBER OF HOMELESS INCREASES DAILY.

***
Google’s god-complex?
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/17/17344250/google-x-selfish-ledger-video-data-privacy
GOOGLE’S SELFISH LEDGER IS AN UNSETTLING VISION OF SILICON VALLEY SOCIAL ENGINEERING
This internal video from 2016 shows a Google concept for how total data collection could reshape society
Google has built a multibillion-dollar business out of knowing everything about its users. Now, a video produced within Google and obtained by The Verge offers a stunningly ambitious and unsettling look at how some at the company envision using that information in the future. … …

***
How Chinese Communism deals with Muslims — Concentration Camps?
https://apnews.com/6e151296fb194f85ba69a8babd972e4b/Chinese-mass-indoctrination-camps-evoke-Cultural-Revolution
China’s mass indoctrination camps evoke Cultural Revolution
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — Hour upon hour, day upon day, Omir Bekali and other detainees in far western China’s new indoctrination camps had to disavow their Islamic beliefs, criticize themselves and their loved ones and give thanks to the ruling Communist PartyWhen Bekali, a Kazakh Muslim, refused to follow orders each day, he was forced to stand at a wall for five hours at a time. A week later, he was sent to solitary confinement, where he was deprived of food for 24 hours. After 20 days in the heavily guarded camp, he wanted to kill himself“The psychological pressure is enormous, when you have to criticize yourself, denounce your thinking — your own ethnic group,” said Bekali, who broke down in tears as he described the camp. “I still think about it every night, until the sun rises. I can’t sleep. The thoughts are with me all the time.”
Since last spring, Chinese authorities in the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang have ensnared tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of Muslim Chinese — and even foreign citizens — in mass internment camps. This detention campaign has swept across Xinjiang, a territory half the area of India, leading to what a U.S. commission on China last month said is “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.”
Chinese officials have largely avoided comment on the camps, but some are quoted in state media as saying that ideological changes are needed to fight separatism and Islamic extremism. Radical Muslim Uighurs have killed hundreds in recent years, and China considers the region a threat to peace in a country where the majority is Han Chinese. … …

***
Maybe I am just relenting to superstition, after all 666 is also just the number between 665 and 667, but this tower’s address has always spooked me.  Now, rich Qatar jumps in to bolster Jared?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-17/kushners-brookfield-said-near-deal-on-troubled-666-fifth-avenue
Kushners, Brookfield Near Deal on Troubled 666 Fifth Ave., Sources Say

***
A moment’s progress against Evil?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-administration-to-tie-health-facilities%E2%80%99-funding-to-abortion-restrictions/ar-AAxrSxE?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss
Trump Administration to Tie Health Facilities’ Funding to Abortion Restrictions
WASHINGTON — Clinics that provide abortions or refer patients to places that do would lose federal funding under a new Trump administration rule that takes direct aim at Planned Parenthood, according to three administration officials.
The rule, which is to be announced Friday, is a top priority of social conservatives and is the latest move by President Trump to impose curbs on abortion rights, in this case by withholding money from any facility or program that promotes abortion or refers patients to a caregiver that will provide one.
The policy would be a return to one instituted in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan that required abortion services to have a “physical separation” and “separate personnel” from other family planning activities. That policy is often described as a domestic gag rule because it barred caregivers at facilities that received family planning funds from providing any information to patients about an abortion or where to receive one.
Federal family planning laws already ban direct funding of organizations that use abortion as a family planning method. But conservative activists and Republican lawmakers have been pressing Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, to tighten the rules further so that abortions could not occur — or be performed by the same staff — at locations that receive Title X federal family planning money. … …

*** 
“School shooting of the day”?  Breaking News / NYTimes / Friday noon —

BREAKING NEWS
There are multiple fatalities in a school shooting in southeast Texas, a local official said.  A suspect is in custody.
Multiple people were killed, and others were injured, in a shooting on Friday morning at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Tex., according to local officials. A suspect was in custody.
At least three people were killed, according to Mark Henry, the Galveston County judge, the county’s top elected official. The injured included at least one police officer, Mr. Henry said. … …

Details, a little later —
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/santa-fe-high-school-shooting-today-2018-05-18-live-stream-updates/
Texas gov.: 10 dead in high school shooting - live updates
SANTA FE, Texas -- Ten people were killed in a shooting Friday morning at a high school south of Houston, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said. School district Police Chief Walter Braun said that explosive devices were found in Santa Fe High School and the surrounding area.
According to law enforcement sources, nine students and a teacher were killed in the shooting, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports. At an afternoon press conference, Abbott said that another 10 people were wounded.
The suspect in custody was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said in a statement. He was being held without bond on a charge of capital murder. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the suspect was believed to be a student at the school.
Abbott said that two people in interest were being interviewed by authorities. He didn't identify them.
According to a law enforcement source, the suspect posted to social media "Dangerous Days" with a pentagram on Friday before the shooting, Milton reports.   
Abbott said the suspect had said that he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting.
"He gave himself up and admitted at the time that he didn't have the courage to commit the suicide," Abbott said. … …
*** 
X-Files fans who “are still out there” will recall this year’s special offered, six(?) installment renewal with Mulder and Scully.  The last episode (if I recall correctly) was about them getting caught in a robot cafe, and profiled and followed — by drones, smart phones, etc., directed by the AI running the robot restaurant.  It was tongue-in-cheek, California-spirit comedy at its best.  Now, a similar robot restaurant opens for real in Boston.

https://www.lmtonline.com/food/article/The-Boston-restaurant-where-robots-have-replaced-12922452.php
The Boston restaurant where robots have replaced the chefs
The debate about whether cooking is more art or science is a never-ending one.
But at Spyce, the latest culinary experiment in automation, that debate feels pretty well settled.
Started by a group of 20-something robotics engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who partnered with Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud, the new restaurant in downtown Boston is founded on the idea that a fulfilling meal can be more science than spontaneity.
The restaurant's founders have replaced human chefs with seven automated cooking pots that simultaneously whip up meals in three minutes or less. A brief description of meal preparation - courtesy of 26-year-old co-founder, Michael Farid - can sound more like laboratory instructions than conventional cooking.

"Once you place your order, we have an ingredient delivery system that collects them from the fridge," Farid said. "The ingredients are portioned into the correct sizes and then delivered to a robotic wok, where they are tumbled at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The ingredients are cooked and seared. And once the process is complete, the woks tilt downward and put food into a bowl. And then they're ready to be garnished and served."
Spyce bills itself as "the world's first restaurant featuring a robotic kitchen that cooks complex meals," a distinction that appears to reference burger-flipping robots like "Flippy," who plied his trade in a California fast food kitchen before being temporary suspended - because he wasn't working fast enough.

A prototype of Spyce's robotic chef was first assembled in the basement of the co-founders' fraternity house at MIT.
The restaurant's dining experience actually begins a few steps before the robots get involved, when customers create customized, compostable bowls that cost $7.50 using colorful touch-screens. Heavy on vegetables and healthy grains, the bowls include a calorie count and have themes such as Latin, Thai, Mediterranean and Hearth.
While meals are cooked, the customer's name appears on an electronic display above their wok, showing their order. Once finished, hot water jets rinse the inside of woks before another collection of ingredients is dumped inside. Farid said they decided to place the robotic chefs out in the open to remove any lingering mystery.
"We didn't want to create a black box that produces a meal," Farid said. "We wanted this experience to be exciting."
The restaurant's motto: "Culinary excellence elevated by technology." … …
***
(May 20)
A seemingly balanced propaganda piece:  Why we must be very careful to handle all news and human movements and moods by searching the Word and seeking the Spirit —  Read with great care that you are not drawn away from the Word by subtleties from any direction.  The powers of suggestion of the spirit of antichrist will arise from every direction, and from all kinds of leaks, springs, and fountains in visible Christendom and the Church too.  “Set your eyes on Jesus…the Author and the Finisher of our faith…”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/19/evangelicals-israel-usa-end-times
In US evangelical capital, a new progressiveness and differing views on Israel
***
I tended toward instant suspicion of this guy, because of the setting and background, but he did speak joyfully of Christ, redemption/salvation, and love and I found myself hopeful of his testimony.  In these days, we must also be certain that people who speak of Jesus are not preaching a christ of their own imagination, but only the Christ, Who is Jesus of Nazareth, by whose life, death, and resurrection, whose testimony by the Scriptures, alone defines our salvation.  Remember, the spirit of the antichrist, as well as the actual final Antichrist will convincingly portray itself as the ultimate manifestation of Jesus. We MUST know better; God keep us!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-bishop-wows-royal-wedding-impassioned-sermon-love-132226764.html
U.S. bishop wows royal wedding with impassioned sermon on love

***

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.  
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, 
When my heart is overwhelmed: 
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For thou hast been a shelter for me, 
And a strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: 
I will trust in the covert of thy wings. 
Selah.
Psalm 61:1-4

*************************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

May 13

Saints,

“When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads o’er His body on the tree; Then I am dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.” (Condensed from the hymn of Isaac Watts, 1707)
When the cares and conundrums of daily life demand my fullest and even most spiritual attentions to solve and resolve them, I must remember where I am, at the foot of the Cross with at least some small drop of his eternal Blood spilled onto my person, body, soul and spirit.  There must be at least some several billions of fellow saints all bowed and huddled round this terrible but glorious scene, and yet, of the few pints shed, there is sufficient for all to be so sprinkled.  For at the Cross the worlds of men and of God are bridged.  God knows when the last soul will come in, when the several billions that suit his Will are gathered, and when the Eternal Conclusion dawns.  We are glad and chosen to wait on him!  
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gift.”

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of the Word in faith and prayer —
Upon the 70th Anniversary of the Miraculous Rebirth of the Nation of Israel —
(May 7)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/05/violence-israel-palestine-jerusalem-us-embassy
Israel fears ‘explosion of violence’ as US prepares to open embassy in Jerusalem
Decision to relocate into the disputed city in the same week as Israel’s 70th anniversary raises concerns of increased tension
Police in Israel have started patrols and security sweeps of a southern Jerusalem neighbourhood, anxiously preparing for a US embassy inauguration that Israelis and Palestinians fear may launch a week of violence.
The move on 14 May will mark the start of a potentially volatile week when Israel will celebrate its 70th anniversary and Palestinians mark the “catastrophe”, or Nakba, of their displacement on the 15th

Nakba day has previously seen violence as the Israeli army responds to demonstrations in the occupied territories. This year, tensions are far higher than usual.  Six weeks of protests along the Gaza border, during which Israeli soldiers have shot dead nearly 40 people and wounded hundreds, will culminate that week.
There are fears that those attending the rallies may attempt to breach the perimeter, a move that could lead to mass casualties as Israeli snipers are operating under rules of engagement that permit live fire. … …

***

I don’t suppose anyone is any less dead when poison gas, napalm, or nukes are used for mass and blanket killing, but there is still a new “creepy factor” to being attacked by multitudes of buzzing, striking, shooting, squirting mass-controlled robot drones sized from insects up to small planes — too much like the stinging locust-scorpions that rise from the Abyss in John’s Revelation!

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Pentagon-moves-closer-to-swarming-drones-12892109.php
Pentagon moves closer to 'swarming drones' capability with new systems test

Flying aircraft carriers that launch and recover fleets of small, inexpensive drones could soon be part of the U.S. military arsenal, as the Pentagon works with private technology partners to engineer that vision into reality.
In late April the Pentagon's advanced research-and-development arm, known as DARPA, awarded a 21-month, $38.6 million contract to Dynetics, a Huntsville, Alabama-based company, to work on the software and technology. San Diego-based Kratos, a venture-funded tech company that specializes in cheap drones used for target practice, joined as a subcontractor and will build a new class of drones whose wings can be folded up for easier storage in the belly of a plane.
For the U.S. military, gaining the ability to have multiple drones quickly and reliably take off from a plane and return to it would be a big step forward, aviation experts say. The goal is to build the technology and know-how needed to apply hordes of small drones on the battlefield.

"You can send volleys of swarms over and over again and really just overwhelm an adversary with that complexity," said Tim Keeter, a deputy program manager and chief engineer at Dynetics. The lower cost could also allow the company's military customers to take greater risks and be more aggressive on the battlefield, Keeter said. … …

***
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-05-06-new-orleans-earthquake-gulf-of-mexico
Rare Magnitude 4.5 Earthquake Strikes Off Coast of Louisiana Near New Orleans

***
Yet another candidate/accessory/variable for on-skin Beast Technology (contributing to the final Mark) —

https://newatlas.com/multi-touch-skin/54502/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-07%20143103%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-07%20143851%20Cyclists%20tackle%20the%20Moroccan%20desert%20as%20Tour%20de%20France%20meets%20the%20Dakar%20Rally&utm_content=2018-05-07%20143103%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-05-07%20143851%20Cyclists%20tackle%20the%20Moroccan%20desert%20as%20Tour%20de%20France%20meets%20the%20Dakar%20Rally+CID_f86c542b4ca38b800e31ccc266a8ee47&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Multi-Touch Skin turns peoples' bodies into remote control units

.\***
(May 8)
Oops, prophecy not so popular in apostate Christendom these days — are we returning to days of “one crying in the wilderness”?

bereancall.org   /  Daily Update for May 8
When God delivered me from darkness over 4 decades ago there were numerous Believers speaking the truth, warning about the advent of deceivers and other Endtimes dangers. However, I since have witnessed a significant decline in the number of individuals warning about the Endtimes. What was once a popular topic is currently regarded as negative and counterproductive to the Believer's peace, prosperity, happiness, comfort, and "best life now" trend. I believe that it is actually more counterproductive to numerical growth in this time of Seeker and Emergent churches.
The blunt truth is that the overwhelming majority of professing Christians in our nation enjoy life in their self-ordered environments. Changes that involve any inconvenience or distraction from their delightful pastimes are not popular. They only want as much godliness as is required to be viewed as a valid Christian and then fill in the rest of their life with pleasing and comfortable things and activities. It appears that they are not convicted of yielding their minds and emotional systems over to stimulation by every form of entertainment of the world system. It is perplexing to witness professing Christians become possessed with delirium over sports and yet seldom respond to anointed preaching, teaching, writing, et cetera.
I view their compromise as extremely dangerous considering the period that we are in. The consequence is a permanently closed mind that cannot receive any critical information by the way of the eye or ear gates. The reality is that Christianity is critically stricken with heresy, and that the world system is near to being prepared for Antichrist. Those facts have completely escaped their detection. God in His great mercy continues to send people to warn them.
--Cedric H. Fisher

*** ***
(May 9)
Pre-WW3 events.  The huge assembly of allies is not yet in place, but these events can draw them to their alliances and military readiness.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/syria-blames-israel-for-strike-near-damascus-target-was-iranian-missiles-aimed-at-israel-1.6071960
Syria Blames Israel for Strike Near Damascus; Target Was Iranian Missiles Aimed at Israel
Israel opens shelters, braces for imminent Iranian attack ■ Syria TV: Air defenses down Israeli missiles ■ Rights group says 9 pro-Assad militants killed
Syria said Tuesday that Israel carried out an attack on a military base south of Damascus, which was used by Iranian forces. According to reports, Israeli fighter jets entered Syrian airspace and struck Iranian missiles aimed at Israel. The Israeli military said it identified what it said was unusual movements of Iranian forces in Syria, and it believed those forces were preparing for an imminent retaliation against Israel. … …

“Trump Nukes Iran Deal” headlines Matt Drudge —
https://apnews.com/cead755353a1455bbef08ef289448994/Trump-decides-to-exit-nuclear-accord-with-Iran
Trump declares US leaving ‘horrible’ Iran nuclear accord
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the landmark nuclear accord with Iran on Tuesday, abruptly restoring harsh sanctions in the most consequential foreign policy action of his presidency. He declared he was making the world safer, but he also deepened his isolation on the world stage and revived doubts about American credibility. … …

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fateful-days-iran-nuclear-deal-us-embassy-move-55005823
Fateful days: Iran nuclear deal, US embassy move, Gaza march
The Middle East is bracing for milestone events packed into one week that could reverberate in unforeseen ways and change the trajectory of a region shaped by growing conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, leaders of the Shiite and Sunni Muslim camps.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. Early next week, the U.S. will move its embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, provoking Palestinians at a time when many thousands plan to march from blockaded Gaza to Israel's border — and perhaps overrun it. … …

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5254987,00.html
IDF instructs opening bomb shelters in Golan Heights

*** ***
When “the Really Big One hits,” if California, “the ninth largest world economy,” population circa 40 million, is destroyed, how will this also affect the global power status and state of the union of the whole and remaining United States?
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquake-20180508-story.html
Magnitude 4.5 earthquake is latest warning of San Andreas' power
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook a large portion of Southern California on Tuesday, and was felt from San Diego to Santa Clarita, authorities said.
Tuesday's temblor struck at 4:49 a.m. about seven miles north of Cabazon and 85 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was close to the San Gorgonio Pass, through which Interstate 10 connects Palm Springs with San Bernardino.

***
“Much ado about nothing,” as religious garb (beyond simple modesty) is meaningless to biblical faith and is more likely deleterious to it:  note how Jesus mocked the long, fringe-adorned robes of the Pharisees, but this “religious” display of sodom-like lusts and flesh is reminiscent of the eras in Temple history when Josiah and Hezekiah had to clear the Temple grounds of prostitutes and sodomites and their paraphernalia when they wanted to associate with the Temple rituals and community but without repentance.  Dark Days.  Remember how Sodom ended.  (See 2 Kings 23, especially verse 7, and 2 Chronicles 29.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5702785/Christian-fury-Met-Galas-blasphemous-Catholic-theme.html
'No other religion would be made fun of in this way': 
Christian fury at Met Gala's 'blasphemous' Catholic theme as Rihanna goes dressed as the Pope and Katy Perry wears angel's wings

***
Who’s human, who’s not?

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/08/google-ceo-unveils-new-era-of-robots-that-sound-like-humans/
Google CEO unveils new era of robots that sound like humans
MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google CEO Sundar Pichai broke a new barrier in artificial intelligence technology Tuesday when he unveiled a voice assistant that sounds exactly like a human voice.
At the I/O developers conference, Pichai introduced Google Duplex, which allows the Assistant to speak with human-like cadence and includes artificial intelligence that is able to comprehend context and unclear answers.
Pichai demonstrated Duplex’s ability by having Assistant make reservations with a restaurant and a hair salon in two recorded phone calls. The receivers of the calls seemed to have no idea they were speaking to an AI voice. In the phone calls, Google Assistant said “ums” and “uhs” to make itself sound more human. In its phone call with the restaurant, where it was too busy to book a reservation, Google Assistant was able to naturally respond to questions and remarks made in a thick accent. … …

***
Christ or Antichrist?  Does God’s mercy reach even into the darkness of theater arts, OR, is the devil just making fun and suggesting false approaches?  Interestingly, both can occur as God can redeem anything, and the devil always takes a big risk when he comments on the story of Jesus.  The Name is very powerful.  I was prepared by the Lord by such Christ/Antichrist babblings as Jesus Christ Superstar back in that day.  I couldn’t stomach watching it now, but even the mention of the Name had an eventually fruitful result for me then.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/faith-based-films-at-cannes-is-fest-having-come-jesus-moment-1109876
Faith-Based Films at Cannes: Is the Fest Having Its "Come to Jesus" Moment?
***

I am having a belly laugh over two news items that just arrived in order from the NYTimes in one of my mailboxes!  In the first one, the Times admits a diplomatic coup for the President in a breaking news story that NKorea has just released the three American hostages as a goodwill gesture prior to the peace negotiations.  Right behind that, the same Times issues its daily “Opinion Today” column collection under Editor Leonhardt, the email of which is titled, “Talk Tough and Weaken America.”  This probably accidental juxtaposition of email posts is hypocrisy as comedy at its best.  There are no links with these, but here are the email inbox headlines.  No doubt, you can find the related stories with an easy search:

North Korea released 3 Americans ahead of President Trump’s planned meeting with Kin Jong-Un, delivering a diplomatic victory to Mr. Trump (Breaking News, Wednesday, May 9, 2018 8:46 AM EST)
(followed by):
Opinion Today:  “Talk Tough and Weaken America”
***
Be awake.  Join the Resistance to the anti-christian false gospel of techno-transhumanism: If you have roku, load skywatchtv channel > home page, select from list > Tom Horn - The Milieu: Resistance to Transhumanism, Part 1

***
(May 10)

Missile Salvos Exchanged Between Israel and Iranian forces in Syria —
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6249305/israel-air-raid-sirens-syria-golan-heights-strike-damascus/
ISRAEL BLITZES BACK Israel bombs ‘nearly all’ Iran’s Syria bases in revenge for missile strikes on Golan Heights
Israeli fighter jets have bombed Iranian military bases and munitions warehouses in Syria in a revenge attack for strikes on Golan Heights

War Words —

TRUMP WARNS IRAN: ‘DON’T RESTART YOUR NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM’
“I would advise Iran not to start their nuclear program. I would advise them very strongly. If they do, there will be very severe consequence,” Trump said.

***
I remember a few years back being puzzled by a story that kids (teenagers) in one of the Asian countries (I think it was South Korea) were so plugged in they could not even remember their own cell phone numbers.  I was bemused and puzzled by this as I thought “if you are so engaged with cell phones, how could you not remember your own phone’s number?”, but now I see that they were just so checked-out of normal consciousness by the service of their phones that they didn’t even need to know their numbers any longer.  The phone’s AI tended it for them.  
Now, we see Alexa-generated services wanting to take over the whole house.  Will users forget how to use a light switch, how to adjust the thermostat, adjust the blinds, go to the store for milk and bread?  Are we essentially moving into a Matrix reality; will we be “living inside” a Giant AI, a Universal Robot (the Techno System of the Beast)?  I used to enjoy those little daily “time outs” of grocery shopping, considering homeowner needs and chores, etc.  What now?  Will we be so “focused” on our leisure and smartphone choice-making that we can no longer think and act in real time?
Amazon is showing what it's like to have a home completely controlled by Alexa
	•	Amazon is working with Lennar to demo model homes that can be controlled by Alexa.
	•	Customers who visit the new "Amazon Experience Centers" can see how Alexa can control thermostats, shades, lights and more.
	•	Apple has taken a similar approach, and Amazon is battling Google to get into your home, too.
Amazon wants to show you how much you can rely on its Alexa voice assistant to control everything in your home, from thermostats to TVs. The company announced Wednesday it's partnering with homebuilder Lennar  to create "Amazon Experience Centers" — model homes containing built-in Alexa-controlled appliances — in hopes of persuading homeowners and homebuyers to embed Amazon services into their houses.
Lennar is outfitting model homes with TVs connected to Amazon's Fire TV system, buttons that can reorder goods from Amazon, and Alexa-enabled products that allow customers to control the lights, TV, shades and other appliances with their voices.  Customers can tour the homes in cities around the U.S. to get an idea of how they work. … …

***
Have the Mormons assessed that the Boy Scouts are no longer about boys and scouting? (But neither do two wrongs make a right.)
(I am thankful God has removed a major government figure who supported the sodomite agenda for the Boy Scouts.  Can the organization be saved?  Doubtful, as it has promoted an antichrist agenda of every religion being ok, and for a long time now.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/mormon-church-ends-century-long-partnership-with-boy-scouts/2018/05/09/0d5dd446-539c-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4bb0853b49b3
Mormon Church to end century-long partnership with Boy Scouts

The Mormon Church said Tuesday that it will cut all ties with the Boy Scouts of America at the end of next year and place its remaining 425,000 boys into a faith-focused youth program it is developing. The move ends a century-old relationship that was based on their shared values.
The announcement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Boy Scouts didn’t come as a complete surprise after the religion last year removed 185,000 boys between the ages of 14 and 18, signaling that an end to the longtime alliance was near.
Joining the Boy Scouts is practically automatic among Mormon boys, and the religion has long been the biggest sponsor of Boy Scout troops in the United States. The Mormon boys who will be leaving represent about 18.5 percent of the 2.3 million youth in the organization.
The Mormon Church said in a statement that the move is about creating its own youth program that it can use for its increasingly global membership, but the two organizations’ values clearly have been diverging in recent years.

The Boy Scouts decided in 2015 to allow gay troop leaders and announced last year it would allow girls in its ranks. Last week, the organization said it will change the name of its flagship program next year to Scouts BSA to account for girls in its packs.
Like other conservative faiths, the Mormon Church opposes same-sex marriage and teaches that being in a homosexual relationship is a sin. The church initially said it was “deeply troubled” by the Boy Scouts’ policy change on gays but stayed with the organization after receiving assurances it could appoint troop leaders according to its own religious and moral values.
The religion has also traditionally used separate youth programs for boys and girls.
The Mormon Church said in a statement the new program that will start in 2020 will “help all girls and boys, young women and young men discover their eternal identity, build character and resilience, develop life skills and fulfill their divine roles as daughters and sons of God.”

***
Betsy Devos continues defense of religious freedoms — (May God protect her and strengthen her.)
http://www.usworldnewstoday.com/devos-moves-to-loosen-restrictions-on-federal-aid-to-religious-colleges/
Devos Moves to Loosen Restrictions on Federal Aid to Religious Colleges
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a lifelong advocate of Christian education, moved on Wednesday to loosen federal regulations on religious universities, after a Supreme Court decision that restricted states from denying some kinds of aid to religious institutions.
The measure is part of a sweeping deregulatory agenda for the Education Department announced on Wednesday by the White House budget office, which outlined several rules and regulations for the department to scrap or amend. Among those are rules that restrict faith-based entities from receiving federally administered funding.
“Various provisions of the department’s regulations regarding eligibility of faith-based entities and activities do not reflect the latest case law regarding religion or unnecessarily restrict religion,” said Liz Hill, an Education Department spokeswoman. “The department plans to review and to amend such regulations in order to be more inclusive.”
Education Department officials appear to be targeting regulations that would pose a legal risk after the Supreme Court ruled in June that states must sometimes provide aid to faith-based organizations. In the decision, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer, the court ruled that Missouri had engaged in unconstitutional religious discrimination when it denied a church-run preschool publicly funded tire scraps for its playground.

Additionally, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a memo last fall in which he listed 20 principles that should guide agencies in enforcing federal laws.
“Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law,” Mr. Sessions wrote. “Therefore, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity, including employment, contracting and programming.” … …

***
(May 11)
Alexa and Siri, eavesdropping for hackers?
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/alexa-and-siri-can-hear-this-hidden-command-you-can-t-20180511-p4zeot.html
Alexa and Siri can hear this hidden command. You can't.
Many people have grown accustomed to talking to their smart devices, asking them to read a text, play a song or set an alarm. But someone else might be secretly talking to them, too.
Over the past two years, researchers have begun demonstrating that they can send hidden commands that are undetectable to the human ear to Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. Inside university labs, the researchers have been able to secretly activate the artificial intelligence systems on smartphones and smart speakers, making them dial phone numbers or open websites.
A group of students from University of California, Berkeley, and Georgetown University showed in 2016 that they could hide commands in white noise played over loudspeakers and through YouTube videos to get smart devices to turn on airplane mode or open a website.
This month, some of those Berkeley researchers published a research paper that went further, saying they could embed commands directly into recordings of music or spoken text. So while a human listener hears someone talking or an orchestra playing, Amazon's Echo speaker might hear an instruction to add something to your shopping list.
"We wanted to see if we could make it even more stealthy," said Nicholas Carlini, a fifth-year PhD student in computer security at UC Berkeley and one of the paper's authors. … …

(May 13 follow-up:  Yesterday, one of my loved ones reported that she and a close associate were merely discussing ordering a carry-out meal.  They did not consult their phones nor digital assistants, but the phones were nearby.  Shortly, they decided to do a search, and when they picked up their phones, they were met with similar food suggestions and local place comparisons before they even asked.)

*** ***
(May 12)
May 14: A new stage begins at the 70th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth?

https://apnews.com/ceb31f5b9c174358ae25422e35e76b3e
Iran cleric threatens destruction of Israeli cities
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A prominent Iranian cleric on Friday threatened two Israeli cities with destruction if the Jewish state “acts foolishly” and attacks its interests again, while thousands of protesters demonstrated against President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal with world powers.
The comments by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami followed a week of escalating tensions that threaten to spill over into a wider conflict between the two bitter enemies, who have long fought each other through proxies in Syria and Lebanon. … …

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-11-2018/
IDF: Palestinians throw grenades, explosives at troops on Gaza border
Army says 15,000 take part in clashes, damage 'security infrastructure' ahead of expected culmination of protests next week
Indonesians protest US Jerusalem recognition ahead of embassy move
Thousands of Indonesian Muslims stage a rally protesting US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
About 5,000 people flock to Jakarta’s landmark National Monument and unfurl Indonesian and Palestinian flags.
*** ***
The front lines of populism/nationalism vs. globalism/one-worldism —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/world/europe/hungary-victor-orban-immigration-europe.html
Secure in Hungary, Orban Readies for Battle with Brussels
BUDAPEST, Hungary — In his victorious campaign to secure a third consecutive term as prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban had a clear, urgent message: The nation was at risk from an international cabal looking to undermine its sovereignty, and it would be overrun with migrants if he was not elected.
With his party firmly in control of this Central European country, Mr. Orban says it is time to take that campaign continental. On Thursday, in his first address to Parliament in his new term, he styled himself as the leader of a movement to reform the European Union and as defender of the sovereign rights of its member nations.
“Now we will be hunting for big game,” said Mr. Orban. He presented a vision for Europe that stood in stark contrast to the one embraced by Western leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, with their acceptance of political and ethnic pluralism, dissent and fairly high levels of migration from Asia and Africa and the Middle East.
“We need to say it out loud because you can’t reform a nation in secrecy: The era of liberal democracy is over,” Mr. Orban said. “Rather than try to fix a liberal democracy that has run aground, we will build a 21st-century Christian democracy.” … …

***
(May 13)
Another Parisian migrant goes psychotically violent over “allahu akbar” ISIS spirit —

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5721939/French-police-shoot-knifeman-launched-attack-bystanders-Paris.html
ISIS knifeman, 21, who killed one and injured four in rampage near famous Paris opera house arrived as a refugee from Chechnya and 'was on anti-terror watchlist' - as police quiz his parents
	•	Armed police swooped on Paris as a terrorist rampaged through part of the city while shouting 'Allah Akbar'
	•	Assailant, 21-year-old born in Chechnya, 'slashed at the throats of innocent bystanders' in the Opera district
	•	He killed one man, aged 29, after stabbing him close to the city's historic Opera House yesterday afternoon
	•	Four others were injured as the killer, who ISIS have claimed was one of their 'soldiers', was targeted by police
	•	Police have now detained the killer's parents, who are also from Chechnya, after the savage slaughter in Paris

***
Who yet knows what’s true?  Another Las Vegas mass murder averted?  Or a Federal Agent undercover?  Strange Days.  (As if volcanoes are not enough to deal with!?)
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38173826/police-find-large-weapons-cache-in-waikiki-raid-prompted-by-disturbing-online-posts
Police find large weapons cache in Waikiki raid prompted by disturbing online posts
WAIKIKI (HawaiiNewsNow) -
The FBI and Honolulu police are investigating after finding a large cache of loaded weapons during a raid of a Waikiki hotel room that sources say was prompted by disturbing posts on social media.
The arsenal included a high-powered rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and an assortment of other weapons. 
But the man staying in the room wasn't arrested.
The FBI notified Honolulu police Thursday about a guest in room 803 at the Equus Hotel, saying he was claiming to be a federal agent in disturbing posts on social media. 
The 38-year old claimed his mission was to hunt terrorist cells. 
When police arrived at the Equus on Ala Moana Boulevard, sources say, they found an arsenal:
An AR-15, and 15 high-capacity magazines — all loaded.
A shotgun and two handguns.
A total of more than 800 rounds of ammunition, plus 18 military styles knives and body armor.
The weapons were legally registered to the man, and having them in his room was also legal.
"There was no danger," said Mike Dailey, manager at the hotel. "The gentlemen was here. He was a guest staying here. He left and then there was an FBI and police investigation."
Sources say that police did find psychiatric medication in the room, allowing them to seize the cache until a mental health evaluation can be completed. He was taken to a hospital for that.
"He had a room here and they're looking at the stuff in his room," Dailey said. "I don't know that there are any weapons. I think you'll have to talk to the police about that."
The man has been living in Hawaii for about three years in a Makiki apartment, but had only been staying a the hotel for a few days.
If he is deemed mentally fit, he could get his weapons back.
***
I can’t begin to cipher the moral ground here, but how much stranger will humanity become before the Apocalypse?  A woman bears her own grandchildren.
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/health/a-grand-mother-s-gift-illinois-woman-is-pregnant-with/article_0cf8ebae-15a4-515c-849e-ac45507cd6cc.html
A (grand)mother's gift:
Illinois woman is pregnant with her daughter's twins
***
Arriving humanoid, human-interacting robots for the elderly.  But will a “compassionate terminator” algorithm be added at some point?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/958844/uk-care-homes-robots-elderly
‘What about that human touch?’ Elderly will be cared for by ROBOTS to solve staff shortage
ROBOTS which can listen, learn and react to people are being introduced in care homes to help look after residents and prevent loneliness.
***
“Frankenstein stuff”?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/11/scientists-develop-neanderthal-miniature-brains/
Scientists to develop Neanderthal 'miniature brains'
***

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, 
And the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, 
Sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, 
Who through the Eternal Spirit, 
Offered Himself without spot to God, 
Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Hebrews 9:13-14

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

May 6

Saints,

The cold and damp are slowly relenting here in northern New England.  I am reminded Who still controls all things and all timings — despite the allowance of all natural disasters and the genocidal mania of fallen humanity — the LORD our God who warrants to us that nothing can pass his allowance, nor hinder his care for his people.  Way back in Genesis (8:22) He assures us of his guidance through the evil days of this world:  “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”  He is our Rest.  He is our Rock.

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of faith and prayer —
(April 30)
Behold “the Borg.”  Chinese workers now directly brain-interfaced with AI monitoring.  Will those who are not quite yet vegetatively-compliant be driven insane?

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2143899/forget-facebook-leak-china-mining-data-directly-workers-brains
‘Forget the Facebook leak’: China is mining data directly from workers’ brains on an industrial scale
Government-backed surveillance projects are deploying brain-reading technology to detect changes in emotional states in employees on the production line, the military and at the helm of high-speed trains
Workers outfitted in uniforms staff lines producing sophisticated equipment for telecommunication and other industrial sectors.
But there’s one big difference – the workers wear caps to monitor their brainwaves, data that management then uses to adjust the pace of production and redesign workflows, according to the company.
The company said it could increase the overall efficiency of the workers by manipulating the frequency and length of break times to reduce mental stress.
Hangzhou Zhongheng Electric is just one example of the large-scale application of brain surveillance devices to monitor people’s emotions and other mental activities in the workplace, according to scientists and companies involved in the government-backed projects.
Concealed in regular safety helmets or uniform hats, these lightweight, wireless sensors constantly monitor the wearer’s brainwaves and stream the data to computers that use artificial intelligence algorithms to detect emotional spikes such as depression, anxiety or rage. … …

***
Persia gathering the first of the hordes of Gog in Syria?

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2215
Target Israel? Iran Recruits 80,000 Shi'ite fighters In Syria

Iran has at least 80,000 Shi'ite Muslim fighters in Syria at a training base near Damascus, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon warned the world body on Thursday.  Many are believed to be from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Holding up a map of the Iranian training base, Danon told members of the Security Council: "What you can see here is Iran's central induction and recruitment center in Syria. There are over 80,000 Shi'a militants in Syria under Iranian control. …  …

***
(May 1)
War Clouds continue to gather for Ezekiel’s Chapters 38 and 39 WW3 —

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/pm-expected-to-reveal-how-iran-cheated-world-on-nuke-program-1.6045300
Netanyahu: Iran Nuclear Deal Is Based on Lies – Here's the Proof
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed a cache of documents he says proves Iran lied to the world about its nuclear program for years, even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the world. "Iran did not come clean about its nuclear program," Netanyahu said in a prime time address in English. Iran, for its part, blasted the speech as “propaganda.”
Presenting 55,000 pages of documents and 183 CDs, Netanyahu said Iran hid an "atomic archive" of documents on its nuclear program.
"This is an original Iranian presentation from these files," Netanyahu said, stressing that "the mission statement is to design, produce and test five warheads with 10 kiloton of TNT yield for integration on missiles." … …

No American-style First Amendment thinking for Turkish Dictator.  Turkey, still a NATO member and former Western Wanna-Be, turns belligerently to militant Islam.  His demand logically criminalizes biblical Christianity.
http://www.wnd.com/2018/04/dark-push-to-criminalize-criticism-of-islam/
TURKEY TELLS EU TO CRIMINALIZE CRITICISM OF ISLAM
Analyst says plan should be 'warning' of looming danger

Turkey for years was a moderate Middle East nation, with both Western leanings and aspirations. It’s in NATO, along with the United States.
But in the last few years, it’s taken a sharp turn toward full-blown Islamic Shariah law and persecution of non-Muslims.
It just got worse, with a statement from a high government official that it wants all governments across Europe to criminalize “Islamophobia,” which would include any negative comment about the religion. … …

***
Huxley’s Brave New World of designer humans is arriving.  What kind of diabolical angst will these poor, unwombed/unmothered, “orphan” children have?

https://www.infowars.com/end-of-sex-futurist-says-lab-grown-babies-in-20-to-40-years/
END OF SEX? FUTURIST SAYS LAB-GROWN BABIES IN 20 TO 40 YEARS
Baby hatcheries predicted in 1932 novel Brave New World
Henry Greely, a futurist author and a Stanford University law professor, says future parents will pick their child from a catalog of “already artificially created embryos” using criteria such as intelligence, athleticism and perhaps even eye color.
“The majority of babies of people who have good health coverage will be conceived this way,” he says.
The process still takes work from both parents, however; the man still needs to donate sperm, and the woman must donate skin cells which are turned into eggs using a process tried on mice that shows promise.
The end result presents the parents with hundreds of embryos of various gene combinations so they can pick the one with their favorite “personal traits.”
But farther in the future, it’s plausible that parents will simply be able to buy off-the-shelf embryos out of a “baby catalog” that only requires ingredients from one of the parents – or perhaps neither of them at all.
It’s literally like the “Create-A-Character” screen of popular role-playing games – and it’s also literally a page out of the 1932 novel Brave New World, which author Aldous Huxley admitted he wrote to reveal the direction the world was heading, as steered by elite circles. … …(ed. note: “elite circles” = Illuminists, Luciferians, etc.)
.\***
Prophecy News Watch announces the passing of Chuck Missler, carefully orthodox scholar of last-days events.  Thank you, Chuck, for first opening my eyes to the influence of the antediluvian Nephilim and their doctrines in this time that Jesus said would be “as in the days of Noah.”  (http://prophecynewswatch.org/)
In Memory Of Chuck Missler
Bible scholar and end times expert Chuck Missler has passed away.  Prophecy News Watch would like to pay respects to the man that inspired many of us to take our Bibles seriously and dig deep into the Word of God

***
Will common sense force itself on the attempted un-gendering of athletics?

http://www.paywallnews.com/sports/Sex--Sport--and-Why-Track-and-Field%E2%80%99s-New-Rules-on-Intersex-Athletes-Are-Essential.Sy-gfVYBaG.html
Sex, Sport, and Why Track and Field’s New Rules on Intersex Athletes Are Essential
Because of testosterone throughout the life cycle, many nonelite males routinely outperform the best elite females, including in track and field. 
Last week, track and field’s world governing body limited entry into women’s events to athletes who have testosterone levels that are capable of being produced solely by ovaries.
These rules apply across the board to athletes however they presented at birth. Advocates for intersex and transgender athletes have vigorously attacked the International Association of Athletics Federations’ new rules, but they are an extraordinary compromise for women’s sports, including for traditional feminist proponents of equal access to sports for girls and women, guaranteed in the civil rights legislation known as Title IX.
Understanding the rules and why they make sense is hard. They are based in biology people don’t know or don’t like to talk about and, let’s be honest, at least in some circles, they’re politically incorrect. They force us to talk about women’s bodies when it is increasingly taboo to do so, and they run counter to the movement that seeks to include transgender and intersex people in social institutions based on their gender identity rather than their biology.
These are important progressive developments, but their effects on valuable institutions like women’s sport are real and they need to be understood before positions harden on bad information. Pretending that the female body doesn’t exist or that we can’t define the boundaries between men’s and women’s bodies is a bad idea for many reasons. Replacing traditional sex classifications with classifications based on gender identity certainly has steep costs in contexts like competitive sport, where the likelihood of success is precisely about sex-specific biology. … …

***
(May 3)
“The Trouble With Tribbles”?  Rapidly multiplying hives of cadenced drones may also swarm out of control.  SmartPhone interferences with their AI may be to blame? Hackable?  These performance swarms are amazing, but what will swarm attacks of armed drones be like on the battlefield or among populations? —Hunter-Killer drones stalking alleys and back streets, culling after curfews?  seeking out named, targeted, facially-ID’d individuals?  groups?

https://qz.com/1268790/watch-in-the-worlds-largest-drone-performance-some-machines-went-rogue/
Watch: In the world’s largest drone performance, some machines went rogue

***
(May 4)
The Jews are mostly yet in unbelief regarding Jesus, and they, as a nation, have a terrible price yet to pay for this flaw (see their own prophet Zechariah 13:8-9), but they do have knowledge of their Scriptures (our Old Testament), and be sure they are aware of Ezekiel’s prophecy of his chapters 38 and 39, the great preliminary battle, “WW3,” before Armageddon.  Surely, they are competent warriors, but the force that will come against them will be overwhelming in numbers and will succeed in entering their land, passing across the Jordan Valley from the north and west, before being destroyed by God Himself along the eastern mountains of the Jordan Valley.  Yet many details remain unknown.  Many of Israel may also be killed as the Hordes of Gog are destroyed.  Many Jews may awake to Christ even because of this war and many Jews even now have received Him.  And so have many Arabs and former Muslims, but the battle by the spirit of Gog must yet rage.  The Israelis prepare themselves, but God says He will witness to all the nations by showing his hand in this upcoming battle (far beyond and above puny human abilities).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/israel-sees-iran-war-looming-as-mideast-tinderbox-awaits-a-spark
Israel and Iran on Path to War as Mideast Tinderbox Awaits Spark
There have been coups and revolutions, external invasions and proxy conflicts, but the Middle East hasn’t seen a head-to-head war between major regional powers since the 1980s.
There’s a growing risk that one is about to break out in Syria, pitting Israel against Iran.
The Islamic Republic’s forces are entrenching there, after joining the fight to prop up President Bashar al-Assad. The Jewish state, perceiving a direct threat on its border, is subjecting them to an escalating barrage of airstrikes. Nobody expects those strikes to go unanswered. … …

***
The Drone Wars begin with criminal elements attacking the FBI —
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/05/criminal-gang-used-drone-swarm-obstruct-fbi-raid/147956/
A Criminal Gang Used a Drone Swarm To Obstruct an FBI Hostage Raid
And that’s just one of the ways bad guys are putting drones to use, law enforcement officials say.
DENVER, Colorado — Last winter, on the outskirts of a large U.S.city, an FBI hostage rescue team set up an elevated observation post to assess an unfolding situation. Soon they heard the buzz of small drones — and then the tiny aircraft were all around them, swooping past in a series of “high-speed low passes at the agents in the observation post to flush them,” the head of the agency’s operational technology law unit told attendees of the AUVSIXponential conference here. Result: “We were then blind,” said Joe Mazel, meaning the group lost situational awareness of the target. “It definitely presented some challenges.”
The incident remains “law enforcement-sensitive,” Mazel said Wednesday, declining to say just where or when it took place. But it shows how criminal groups are using small drones for increasingly elaborate crimes.
Mazel said the suspects had backpacked the drones to the area in anticipation of the FBI’s arrival. Not only did they buzz the hostage rescue team, they also kept a continuous eye on the agents, feeding video to the group’s other members via YouTube. “They had people fly their own drones up and put the footage to YouTube so that the guys who had cellular access could go to the YouTube site and pull down the video,” he said. … …
***
“Star Wars” begins with China firing lasers at US planes in one of its southern flank, adventuring regions —

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/pentagon-confirms-chinese-fired-lasers-u-s-pilots/
Pentagon Confirms Chinese Fired Lasers at U.S. Pilots
related — on the eastern flank
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-says-consequences-chinas-south-china-sea-militarization-012917674.html
U.S. says will be consequences for China's South China Sea militarization
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has raised concerns with China about its latest militarization of the South China Sea and there will be near-term and long-term consequences, the White House said on Thursday.U.S. news network CNBC reported on Wednesday that China had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three manmade outposts in the South China Sea. It cited sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence.Asked about the report, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a regular news briefing: "We’re well aware of China’s militarization of the South China Sea. We’ve raised concerns directly with the Chinese about this and there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”… …
***
Pray with them and for them, regularly!  (Lord, cause brother Mike and his President to be as wise as Daniel in Babylon and Joseph in Egypt in dealing with earthly affairs on every side and every moment.  Teach them and their wives and families and the whole administration to pray and to be purified in prayer.  Amen.)

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2018/may/lsquo-the-american-people-believe-in-prayer-rsquo-mike-pence-on-national-day-of-prayer
‘There’s Prayer on a Regular Basis in This White House’:  Mike Pence on Religious Freedom, Praying for Jerusalem

WASHINGTON – After President Donald Trump held a celebration for the National Day of Prayer in the Rose Garden, and signed an executive order setting up a new faith-based office, Vice President Mike Pence did an interview with CBN News' David Brody – in his office.
The new executive order expands upon a religious freedom executive order signed last year. Vice President Pence says it makes sure all levels of the federal government are partnering with faith-based groups on various federal programs.
"This is really about making sure that as we develop policies for the country, that we are always making room for those inalienable rights, the free exercise of religion that Americans cherish," the vice president explained.

While the White House faith initiative is making headlines, it's what's happening behind the scenes inside the White House that is having quite a bit of spiritual impact.
For a while now, CBN News has reported how evangelical Christians have unprecedented direct access with the current president.  It has led to input on policy and consistent prayer among Cabinet members. Pence says there is prayer going on inside the White House all the time, not only on the National Day of Prayer.
"There's prayer going on on a regular basis in this White House. And it's one of the most meaningful things to me, whether it's public meetings or not, I've lost count of the number of times that the president has nudged me, or nudged another member of the Cabinet and said, 'Let's start this meeting with prayer,'" he told Brody.  … …

***
“Giving life to the beast”?  Advances in cloning —
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/954585/scientists-embryo-egg-sperm-stem-cell-research-cloning
Cloning horror: Human clone fears as Euro scientists CREATE LIFE from ‘nothing’
SCIENTISTS have created a living embryo in a laboratory without using either egg or sperm in ground-breaking but hugely controversial experiments.
The experimental research combined two types of stem cells and created a viable embryo – which the team say would provide an unlimited stock for medical research.
The created embryos would also be used for medical treatment testing and help shed light on one of the biggest infertility enigmas - why embryos fail to implant in the womb.
However critics say it is a huge step towards human cloning.
The researchers believe the wonder creation could see mice being cloned in three years time, and humans two decades later. … …

***
(May 5)
Paradise Lost?

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38087728/puna-warned-series-of-quakes-could-indicate-eruption-is-possible
6.9-magnitude quake, eruptions prompt state of emergency on Big Island
PUNA, BIG ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) -
A large, 6.9-magnitude quake jolted Hawaii Island on Friday afternoon, just an hour after another sizable quake, amid an ongoing eruption of Kilauea that's triggered mandatory evacuations in Leilani Estates, sent lava spewing into streets and threatened homes.
Six fissures — each several hundred yard longs — have been confirmed in the Puna subdivision, officials say.
The extent of the damage isn't yet known, but officials did say at least two structures were significantly damaged and a number of roads have been covered in lava or severely cracked. 
"Everything is still elevated," said Talmadge Magno, administrator of Hawaii County Civil Defense. "It kind of gets you nervous."
The 6.9-magnitude quake, which happened about 12:30 p.m., was the largest in Hawaii since 1975 and generated small tsunami waves around the Big Island. Hawaii County Civil Defense said sea fluctuations ranged from 8 inches in Hilo to 16 inches at Kapoho.
The temblor, centered on the south flank of Kilauea, was felt as far away as Oahu and triggered several landslides along the Hamakua Coast, including one that closed a lane for several hours. 
After the quake, about 14,000 customers lost power in Kaumana, Hilo and Puna. Power has since been restored.
The temblor came about an hour after a 5.4 magnitude shook the Big Island on Friday morning, which was followed by a fifth eruption spewing lava into Leilani Estates. That quake was also centered near the south flank of Kilauea — about 18 kilometers southwest of Leilani Estates, the USGS reported. … …

***
The Decline and Fall of the West?  The Famous Prize cannot find anyone to monitor the giving of the award — due to the #MeToo movement?
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/world/europe/nobel-prize-literature-sexual-misconduct.html
Citing ‘Crisis of Confidence,’ Academy Calls Off Nobel Literature Prize
STOCKHOLM — Faced with a sexual-abuse scandal, accusations of financial wrongdoing and hints of a cover-up, the Swedish Academy announced on Friday that for the first time in 69 years it would postpone awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The decision to delay the award marked an extraordinary and seamy public reckoning for a 232-year-old cultural organization that has long been admired as one of the world’s most prestigious scholarly bodies — but also criticized as secretive, arbitrary and patriarchal.  At the center of the firestorm is a member of the academy and her husband, who is accused of groping, harassing and assaulting at least 18 women over the years. The couple ran a cultural organization in Stockholm that received sizable payments from the academy, giving him the access and leverage, accusers say, to pressure women into sex.
As revelations emerged over the past five months, the academy cut its ties to the organization; the police opened a criminal investigation; members of the academy resigned in disgust; and the first woman to lead the academy was pushed out — brought down by other members seeking to play down the scandal, her defenders say. … …

***

Nicaragua’s Dictator Ortega, socialist revolutionary president, now on the receiving end?  “They that live by the sword…”?

https://www.postnewsreport.com/as-nicaragua-death-toll-grows-support-for-ortega-slips/
AS NICARAGUA DEATH TOLL GROWS, SUPPORT FOR ORTEGA SLIPS

***

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, 
and find grace to help in time of need.”
Paul to the Hebrews, 4:16

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Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

April 29 

Saints,

There is a “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7) whereby we are able to continue in the Faith.  We take no joy in the demise of the world, and particularly of individuals; rather, we labor to help them, and see in the world’s collapse the very prophetic signs that our Lord is True and is the only Righteousness.  He Himself told us to watch for these things and to be comforted by their appearance that his Word is True:  “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh”  (Luke 21:28).  See also I Corinthians 15:51 &ff: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  And Paul adds to the Thessalonians: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS.” (1 Th 4:16-18)

God grant you the rest to watch and pray from within the Comfort of the Holy Spirit in the upcoming week.  “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  (Rev. 3:10).  “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:  if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.  (Rev.3:20)

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of faith and prayer —
(April 23)
Weekend violence saw two mass shooting attempts, one by a crazy, naked man at the Waffle House in Nashville, the other by a suddenly possessed ex-student with a shotgun at his former high school in Florida.  The second is repentant too late; the first is still on the loose at this report.  In Afghanistan, 57 people died in a suicide bomber attack; this could seem like “ho hum” news at this point, but these are 57 souls made in the image of God and for whom Christ died.

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-waffle-house-shooting-travis-reinking-neighbors-on-alert-amid-intense-manhunt/
Waffle House shooting: Neighbors on alert amid intense manhunt
http://abcnews.go.com/US/injured-florida-high-school-shooting-suspect-custody-officials/story?id=54608040
1 student injured in Florida high school shooting; suspect in custody, officials say
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/04/22/isis-suicide-bombing-at-afghanistan-voter-registration-center-kills-57.html
ISIS suicide bombing at Afghanistan voter registration center kills 57

By 1:44 p.m. Monday — Sidewalk terror, rental van mows down 9 or more on Toronto street —
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/at-least-1-dead-after-van-strikes-people-on-toronto-sidewalk-suspect-arrested-1.3898118
At least 1 dead after van strikes people on Toronto sidewalk; suspect arrested
(Later, final tally, 10 dead, 15 injured)

***
Will “the People’s Republic of California” go fascist by the leftist route, banning discourse, burning books on morality, ultimately banning the Bible for its “sexism and homophobia”?

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2200
Will California Go From Banning Religious Books To Burning Them?
Two weeks ago, we warned you about the implications of California's "Must Stay Gay Bill". Now others are sounding the alarm about the full weight of this onerous bill, which could literally mean the banning of certain religious books. If we don't stop this, what's coming next?
On April 17, David French noted that this bill "would actually -- among other things -- ban the sale of books expressing orthodox Christian beliefs about sexual morality. … …

***
(April 24)
Just when we think we know it all — and that just about our own selves as humanity — new layers emerge:  “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” Psalm 8:4, 5.  How great is The Fall and how great the Darkness that we cannot know but the edge of the fullness of our own beings!  And how great is the Light of Christ and of the Resurrection to come!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/dna-new-discovered-human-cells-living-imotif-australia-research-double-helix-knot-a8318116.html
New form of DNA discovered inside living human cells
A new DNA structure inside human cells known as the “i-motif”, has been identified by scientists.  
This form resembles a twisted “knot” of DNA, instead of the well-known double helix first described by James Watson and Francis Crick.
Lab work has previously suggested the existence of DNA in this form, but this is the first time it has been observed in living cells.

The scientists are not exactly sure what the function the i-motif is, but they suspect it is involved with the process of “reading” DNA sequences and converting them into useful substances. … …

***
Severe drought advancing in Southwest — also blamed for recent massive range fires

http://www.weathernationtv.com/news/exceptional-drought-parts-seven-states-southwest/
Exceptional Drought in Parts of Seven States in Southwest
(excerpt): …By mid-March, drought in the panhandle of Oklahoma had reached “exceptional” status, and severe drought had pushed northward from Arizona and New Mexico into Utah and Colorado. As of mid-April, parts of seven Southwest states had progressed into exceptional drought.
Drought impacts are piling up. Endangered fish in the Rio Grande had to be rescued and relocated to wetter stretches as parts of the river in New Mexico dried up. In Arizona and New Mexico, birds and elk have been observed coming to stock ponds and yards for water and food as natural sources of surface water and vegetation become scarce. …

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Pompeo nomination moves forward, and with Democratic help, after he is attacked for his personal views on “gay marriage” and on the evident dangers imposed by Islam —
(Later in the week, Pompeo is confirmed and found to be already in immediate diplomacy mission with North Korea, etc.  God save him.)

https://www.whio.com/news/national-govt--politics/after-close-vote-panel-sends-pompeo-nomination-senate/ZhKT1bys9Z2F1OeB9oZAbK/
After close vote, panel sends Pompeo nomination to Senate

***
Are these strange solutions to a huge and growing problem?  Will a soulless AI morality determine what is fit for human consideration and what is not?  Will society become a lockstep machine?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/technology/youtube-video-removal.html
YouTube Says Computers Are Catching Problem Videos
SAN FRANCISCO — The vast majority of videos removed from YouTube toward the end of last year for violating the site’s content guidelines had first been detected by machines instead of humans, the Google-owned company said on Monday.
YouTube said it took down 8.28 million videos during the fourth quarter of 2017, and about 80 percent of those videos had initially been flagged by artificially intelligent computer systems.
The new data highlighted the significant role machines — not just users, government agencies and other organizations — are taking in policing the service as it faces increased scrutiny over the spread of conspiracy videos, fake news and violent content from extremist organizations. … …

***
(April 25)
Violence for its own sake…Why there is no hope for humans except the Savior.  Ostensibly begun as fan clubs, hooligan violence is now an art and political form of its own, monitored and used by governments, expanding ultra-nationalism and racism.  If anyone thinks we have moved beyond the Age of Viking brutality, of Nazi inflammation, of Idi Amin terrors, of personal ongoing brutal warfare, xenophobia and utter racism, let him be apprised differently.  Read this in-depth piece and thank God for salvation for and from fallen humanity.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/24/russia-neo-nazi-football-hooligans-world-cup
The rise of Russia’s neo-Nazi football hooligans

(excerpt): …A whistle blows and the two groups pad toward each other. They move slowly at first, clapping their hands to show that they are not carrying weapons, before speeding to a sprint. The lines smash into each other, before peeling off into one-on-one skirmishes. Some fighters go down easily, perhaps hoping to avoid serious damage. Their lack of ambition is noted by the watching scouts; they will never again be invited back. Others crumple with real injuries. After just a few minutes, it becomes clear which side still has fighters standing, and has won. Some limp home or off to hospital. Those who have proven their talent for violence in the forest may be invited into the firm, and, from this boot camp, on to the street. …

***
(April 26)
The days/daze of confusion leading up to the reign of Antichrist?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-want-to-crack-down-on-fake-news-but-one-persons-fake-news-is-anothers-democratic-dissent/2018/04/25/a9f49738-432d-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.19d608378c24
Europe wants to crack down on fake news. But one person’s fake news is another’s democratic dissent.
BRUSSELS — The European Union on Thursday will unveil a strategy for fighting fake news that could be a model for Western nations, but already it has run into trouble defining the line between disinformation and dissent.
The new E.U. proposals will encourage voluntary pledges from Facebook and others to highlight the sources of information they feature and to promote content from credible media outlets. The E.U. also wants to push news literacy education and to fund private fact-checking organizations that subscribe to standards of political independence and objectivity.
Other countries, including the United States, are also cooperating with each other to combat fake news. France, Germany and Italy are working on national plans.
But a separate E.U. effort to combat foreign interference illustrates what can go awry.
The E.U.’s East Stratcom Task Force compiled a hall of shame of 3,800 news articles it says reflect Kremlin attempts to influence political discussions in the West. Last month, however, the task force made an embarrassing about-face after three Dutch news outlets complained they were singled out because they quoted people out of step with the European mainstream. 
“It’s a reminder of how really difficult it is, and potentially problematic, if public authorities take it upon themselves to be arbiters of truth,” said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, who advised the E.U. on its new proposals. … …
*It’s a fake, fake, fake, fake, fake world as even Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s account are faked by scamming hackers!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/technology/fake-mark-zuckerberg-facebook.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998ries&ref=cta
How Fake Mark Zuckerbergs Scam Facebook Users Out of Their Cash

***
Without doubt, many of these people are in real need, but others are “community organizers,” troublemakers, and criminals hiding behind the skirts of women and their children.  It is impossible that a nation be sovereign and not have secure borders.  Rome decayed to nothingness for the same reasons.  Yet, the need is real. There is demonic chaos and death in the countries these folks are fleeing.  Mexico essentially urges them on by not stopping them.  There is no good solution, political, military or otherwise.  God save!  And give the President both wisdom and compassion to solve the insolvable.  It could be suggested that the US make a military commitment to establish safe zones in these countries and then use its military to utterly destroy the criminal, murdering gangs, but this is virtually a commitment to extend US rule and sovereignty to other nations when we cannot solve our own internal violence.  “My, my, what do we need?!  A one world government with a very strong leader!!!” (The Antichrist, in case you miss my cynical gist.)
http://news.trust.org/item/20180426013839-roovj
Migrant 'caravan' at U.S.-Mexico border prepares for mass crossing
TIJUANA, Mexico, April 25 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Central American migrants from a caravan that crossed Mexico reunited in Tijuana on Wednesday and planned to cross the border together this weekend in defiance of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to repel them.
The timing of the migrants arrival could compromise a flurry of talks this week to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap if Mexico does not crack down on the flow of Central Americans through its territory.
Busloads of migrants began arriving on Tuesday at a shelter that was a five minute-walk from the border and within sight of a U.S. flag waving under an overpass connecting the two countries.
While many rested in tents after a month-long journey across Mexico, others wandered up to the border to contemplate the next stage in their journey.
"The wall doesn't look that tall," said Kimberly George, a 15-year-old girl from Honduras as she looked toward a stunted barrier a few feet away. "I really want to cross it."
Migrants said they fled their homes in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras because of death threats from local gangs, the murder of family members or political persecution.
Moving from town to town, the migrant caravan became a stumbling block for U.S.-Mexico relations after Trump unleashed a series of tweets in early April, telling Mexican authorities to stop them. … …
***
The Terrible Grief and Horror to Our South —
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/26/latin-america-murder-crisis-violence-homicide-report
Breathtaking homicidal violence': Latin America in grip of murder crisis
Region has experienced 2.5 million murders since 2000 and report paints bleak picture of extreme violence and deteriorating security
Latin America has suffered more than 2.5m murders since the start of this century and is facing an acute public security crisis that demands urgent and innovative solutions, a new report warns.
“The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtaking,” says the report by the Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based thinktank focused on security and development issues. … …

***
O, LORD God, we pray you put your wisdom upon our so-called “Supreme Court.”  You alone are Supreme.  Protect us from the powers of antichrist in the false religions and bring a revival of love for the Truth amongst many of every present persuasion.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-25/trump-travel-ban-gets-support-from-key-justices-at-high-court
Trump Travel Ban Looks Poised for Victory at U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold President Donald Trump’s travel ban as two key justices used an argument session to aim skeptical questions at a lawyer challenging the policy.
Hearing the last case of its nine-month term Wednesday, the court took its first direct look at a policy that indefinitely bars more than 150 million people from entering the country. Opponents, led at the high court by Hawaii, say Trump overstepped his authority and was motivated by anti-Muslim animus. … …

***
(April 27)
ISIS using starvation tactics as war strategy to drive new waves of Africans to Europe?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/26/isis-trying-to-foment-a-wave-of-migration-to-europe-says-un-official
Isis trying to foment a wave of migration to Europe, says UN official
Islamic State commanders fleeing Syria are conspiring with extremist groups in Africa to foment and infiltrate a new migration wave destined for Europe, the head of the UN World Food Programme has said.
David Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina, said Europe needed to wake up to the extremists’ strategy in the Sahel region.
Those forced out of Syria were uniting with local terrorist groups to use a lack of food as both a recruitment tool and a vehicle to push millions of Africans towards Europe, he said.
Speaking to the Guardian during a visit to Brussels for a two-day Syria summit, Beasley said: “You are going to face a similar pattern of what took place years ago, except you are going to have more Isis and extremist groups infiltrating migration.
“What we are picking up is that they are partnering with the extremist groups like Boko Haram and al-Qaida to divvy up territory and resources and to continue to infiltrate and destabilise in the hope of creating migration into Europe where they can infiltrate and cause chaos.
“My comment to the Europeans is that if you think you had a problem resulting from a nation of 20 million people like Syria because of destabilisation and conflict resulting in migration, wait until the greater Sahel region of 500 million people is further destabilised. And this is where the European community and international community has got to wake up.” … …

***
“…receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.”  (Rev 13:16e)

https://newatlas.com/electronics-3d-printed-skin/54388/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-04-27%20143727%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-04-27%20144704%20Ida%20Pfeiffer%20ice-class%20yacht%20is%20built%20for%20chilly%20adventures&utm_content=2018-04-27%20143727%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-04-27%20144704%20Ida%20Pfeiffer%20ice-class%20yacht%20is%20built%20for%20chilly%20adventures+CID_86f572c794fb2ebcf8524b3eff2bb47f&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Electronics%203D-printed%20onto%20human%20skin
Electronics 3D-printed onto human skin
Various research institutes have already developed skin-applied electronics, that are pre-made and simply adhered to the user's body. Researchers at the University of Minnesota, however, have taken a different approach. They've developed a method of 3D-printing custom electronics directly onto the skin. … …

***

(April 28)
“Original Sin” now invading personal and family space through DNA analysis?  Maybe you should forget the popular pastime of letting the cyber world assemble your heritage.  If detectives want to solve crimes by tracking individual DNA retrieved from a coffee cup, soda can, etc., let them do so, but should they meddle in family DNA?  Is this crossing a line?  Will this make nearly everyone subject to being labelled a criminal class in this new eugenics?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/health/dna-privacy-golden-state-killer-genealogy.html?emc=edit_th_180428&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980428
The Golden State Killer Is Tracked Through a Thicket of DNA, and Experts Shudder
The arrest of a suspect has set off alarms among some scientists and ethicists worried that consumerDNA may be widely accessed by law enforcement.
Genetic testing services have become enormously popular with people looking for long-lost relatives or clues to hereditary diseases. Most never imagined that one day intimate pieces of their DNA could be mined to assist police detectives in criminal cases.
Even as scientific experts applauded this week’s arrest of the Golden State Killer suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, some expressed unease on Friday at reports that detectives in California had used a public genealogy database to identify him. Privacy and ethical issues glossed over in the public’s rush to embrace DNA databases are now glaringly apparent, they said.
“This is really tough,” said Malia Fullerton, an ethicist at the University of Washington who studies DNA forensics. “He was a horrible man and it is good that he was identified, but does the end justify the means?”
Coming so quickly on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook data on more than 70 million users was shared without their permission, it is beginning to dawn on consumers that even their most intimate digital data — their genetic profiles — may be passed around in ways they never intended.
“There is a whole generation that says, ‘I don’t really care about privacy,’” said Peter Neufeld, a co-founder of The Innocence Project, which uses DNA to exonerate people who were wrongly convicted. “And then they do, once there is a Cambridge Analytica. No one has thought about what are the possible consequences.”… …
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/04/27/ancestry-genealogy-dna-test-privacy-golden-state-killer/557263002/
Took an ancestry DNA test? You might be a 'genetic informant' unleashing secrets about your relatives

***
A “little ad” for Hal Lindsey’s newsletter and ongoing work — the amazing prophecies of Israel’s national rebirth in a day, the very significant 70th anniversary thereof, the assembly of the hordes of Gog under Rosh (Russia).  What a time we are seeing!  Lost liberal religionists still babble on about how “prophecy is only an illustration of moral history, yadda, yadda” while, all around, last days events multiply and cascade! Here’re his thoughts for the occasion and his weekly newsletter in entirety:
April 27th, 2018
For many of you who read this letter each week, there's not much I can tell you about Israel that you don't already know. 

And that is good. Because, as you've heard me say so often, Israel is God's time clock. 

End-times prophecy kicked into high gear when Israel became a modern nation back on May 14, 1948. It fulfilled Isaiah's incredible prophecy, found in Isaiah 66, that Israel would be reborn in a day. Even Isaiah was incredulous: "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?" (Isaiah 66:8 NASB) 

And just to punctuate the unbelievable -- that a nation could be born in a single day -- God put a little cherry on top to prove that these are, indeed, unusual days and that His Word can be believed even when it seems impossible. 

Not only was Israel born in a day, but it was recognized by the world's greatest power just 11 minutes later. 11 minutes! No grass grew under Harry Truman's feet! 

Isaiah probably didn't even know what a minute was. If he found it difficult to believe Israel could be born in a day, he certainly could have never understood what an incredible miracle it was that the nascent nation was afforded instant legitimacy in the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. 

But God doesn't do things halfway. And when God says it, He means it. 

On April 18-19, Israel officially celebrated its 70th anniversary. 

According to the Jewish calendar, on which Israel operates, the 70th anniversary occurred this past week. According to the Gregorian calendar, on which most of the rest of the world operates, the anniversary will fall on May 14, 2018. Not to worry, though. The nation will celebrate again so that we can all join in. 

As I said earlier, many of the prophecies concerning the end of this Age of Grace could only be fulfilled after the Jews were regathered in their ancient homeland and became a national entity. Against all odds and in defiance of the overwhelming physical forces that surrounded them, that occurred 70 years ago. 

Since then, prophecies concerning these days have been rapidly coming to pass. In fact, it is breathtaking to consider the movement in the prophetic scenario that has occurred in just the few years I have been reporting them on this program and on my previous program, "The International Intelligence Briefing." That's why our opening line each week is "Yesterday's prophecies. Today's headlines." 

Not the least of those dramatic developments is the formation of the alliance between Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Historically, the nations have been enemies. Even just a short few years ago, this alliance would have been impossible. 

But Ezekiel predicted that these three specific nations would join together to launch an assault on Israel. (Ezekiel 38 & 39) Now, they are cooperating militarily, Russia is protecting Iran in the United Nations, Turkey is under dictatorial rule once again, and Russia has established military bases next door to Israel in Syria. 

And all of that has coalesced in just the last few years. Another breathtaking, seemingly impossible prophecy that has come to pass. 

And why is it so important to be aware of these "end-times" developments? Because Jesus said that the generation that sees Israel reborn would not fully pass away until it also sees His return for His bride. (Matthew 24:30-36, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32) 

The clock is ticking. No matter how you define a "generation" (and there are multiple definitions), 70 years means that the major part of it has passed and there can't be much left. 

That's why it's important to make sure you, your family, and your loved ones have accepted the free gift of pardon that Jesus Christ bought for you with His death on the cross. Be ready to go when Jesus returns. Which, literally, could be at any moment now. 

As you may have guessed by now, on this week's program I will be focusing on "Israel at 70." I'll discuss Israel: The Miracle, The Byword, The Timepiece. 

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, various local stations,www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Please check your local listings.

God Bless,  Hal Lindsey

***
Ancient warfare styles return: assaulting the walls in Israel —
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-protests-shooting/israeli-forces-kill-three-gaza-border-protesters-wound-400-medics-idUSKBN1HY205
Israeli forces kill three Gaza border protesters, wound 600: medics
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead three protesters along the Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medics said, hours after the United Nations human rights chief criticized Israel for using “excessive force” against demonstrators.
Israeli troops have killed 41 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others since Gaza residents began staging protests along the border fence on March 30 to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The troops were holed up behind fortifications on their side of the 40km (25-mile) border fence and fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters at five locations on the Gazan side.
Gaza medical officials said two protesters who were struck by bullets were in critical condition in hospital and 600 others were wounded.
The Israeli military said 12,000-14,000 Gazans were participating in what it described as “riots,” and that some had tried to breach the border into Israel. It said troops “had operated in accordance with the rules of engagement” to stop people crossing the border. … …

***
Great Tides are Turning.  A Domino-Effect of Countries Plan Embassy Moves to Jerusalem.  This is prophetically momentous, but we must not forget that it is the divining treason of the Antichrist to defile the new Temple that will be built there in this era.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-embassy-quarter-in-Jerusalem-to-be-built-could-be-called-Trump-Town-552860
NEW EMBASSY QUARTER TO BE BUILT IN JERUSALEM, COULD BE CALLED 'TRUMP TOWN’
“There is an apparent pattern of embassies moving to Jerusalem, and we have to start getting ready now.”
Construction Minister Yoav Gallant has instructed the top officials in his ministry to begin the process of planning and approving a new quarter for embassies from countries around the world that will be built in Jerusalem, he revealed on Thursday in an interview from New York, where he will be speaking at Sunday’s Jerusalem Post Conference.
Even before the progress made this week toward moving the embassies of the Czech Republic, Romania, and Honduras, Gallant had already sent a letter to Construction Ministry director-general Hegai Roznik and chief architect Vered Solomon-Maman last Friday, asking them to form a task force that will immediately begin working on finding an appropriate site for many embassies in the capital. … …
***
Population shifts — not from flood or other natural catastrophe but from a socialist, totalitarian social collapse 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/world/americas/venezuela-brazil-migrants.html
‘Their Country Is Being Invaded’: Exodus of Venezuelans Overwhelms Northern Brazil
PACARAIMA, Brazil — Hundreds turn up each day, many arriving penniless and gaunt as they pass a tattered flag that signals they have reached the border.
Once they cross, many cram into public parks and plazas teeming with makeshift homeless shelters, raising concerns about drugs and crime. The lucky ones sleep in tents and line up for meals provided by soldiers — pregnant women, the disabled and families with young children are often given priority. The less fortunate huddle under tarps that crumple during rainstorms.
The scenes are reminiscent of the waves of desperate migrants who have escaped the wars in Syria and Afghanistan, spurring a backlash in Europe. Yet this is happening in Brazil, where a relentless tide of people fleeing the deepening economic crisis in Venezuela has begun to test the region’s tolerance for immigrants. … …

***
Cultural emasculation.  Are Millennial men being taught that it is wrong to “act like a man”?  These kinds of brain-washing are the very essence of the philosophies and methodologies behind witchcraft and disarm and make utterly vulnerable whole societies.  Surely, there can be excess in any trait, including hyper-macho masculinity, but traditional, and better — biblical roles — are necessary for a people, nation, society to survive.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/university-of-texas-to-treat-masculinity-as-a-mental-health-issue/
University of Texas to Treat Masculinity as a 'Mental Health' Issue

The Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin recently launched a new program to help male students “take control over their gender identity and develop a healthy sense of masculinity.”
Treating masculinity as if it were a mental health crisis, “MasculinUT” is organized by the school’s counseling staff and most recently organized a poster series encouraging students to develop a “healthy model of masculinity.”
The program is predicated on a critique of so-called “restrictive masculinity.” Men, the program argues, suffer when they are told to “act like a man” or when they are encouraged to fulfill traditional gender roles, such as being “successful” or “the breadwinner.”
Though you might enjoy “taking care of people” or being “active,”MasculinUT warns that many of these attributes are actually dangerous, claiming that “traditional ideas of masculinity place men into rigid (or restrictive) boxes [which]... prevent them from developing their emotional maturity.”
“If you are a male student at UT reading this right now, we hope that learning about this helps you not to feel guilty about having participated in these definitions of masculinity, and instead feel empowered to break the cycle!” the program offers.
The program is currently without leadership, but not for long. The school is in the process of hiring a “healthy masculinities coordinator” to run the program, and a school official tells PJ Media that some hopeful hirees are interviewing for the position later this week.
While many schools now have similar programs, this appears to be the first run directly out of a Counseling and Mental Health Center. Though the school seems to justify this by claiming that masculinity can cause men to lash out at other people and themselves, the school did not respond to a request for comment to clarify.
There is no evidence that masculinity itself contributes to violence. Universities that run similar programs, such as UNC-Chapel Hill and Northwestern, have admitted that their programming isn’t supported by any evidence. … …

***

And the peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding, 
shall keep your hearts and minds 
through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

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April 22 

Saints,

Terror is now the tenor of daily life.  If it isn’t constant international incidents, it is individuals, losing it under pressure (tribulation in the Greek transliteration), performing killing sprees, now nearly daily in our own US press.  Or, it is lone wolf terrorists.  Meanwhile, there is a rapid march to worldwide infernos of war with the Middle East leading.  We must labor to keep our personal peace at this time.  We must pray for the world situations and even for the individual people who “pop” under stress, and for their families, and their victims of personal outbreaks of their psychotic actions.  We cannot blindly trust  the reports of the press (and the social media incitements — see next to last entry today), but we can trust our God to translate our prayers about these issues and to keep and guide the obedient church until we are taken up.

Please realize with me that these news reports links are only notes on what we are being told, and we can only use them to take the pulse of the world even if we cannot diagnose all its diseases.  Sometimes, I cite tabloid headlines here, but often they speak to more visceral concerns of their readers to which a “loftier press” will not descend.  But, we know the Mainstream Media too is fraught with misleading opinions and highly slanted “reporting.”  We must be aware of the tendencies for all media to mislead so that we can watch and take matters to prayer to the One Who does know the Truth of all matters.

God invites us into his “Situation Room” where we are allowed to guide events into His Will through believing prayer.  Do not think you have no power over world events, but rather take the time to actually pray about them as though your prayers do count.  They do; this is the Faith.  Remember that the Holy Spirit in the believing Church holds back the full outbreak of Satan upon the world until we are taken up, and he is allowed to roam virtually unleashed for the years of the prophesied Tribulation.

We stand at the door.  Let us watch and pray.

***
The Week — “The Situation Room” of watching the world with the prophetic eyes of faith and prayer —
(April 16)
Closer than we think?  “In such an hour as ye think not…”  Rosh moving military supplies south —

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5618609/Russian-ships-laden-tanks-seen-Bosphorus-en-route-Tartus-Syria-led-air-strikes.html
Russian reinforcements head for Syria:
Warships laden with tanks, military trucks and armoured patrol boats sail towards the Middle East as the world awaits Putin's response to airstrikes
	•	Project 117 Alligator-class landing ship was spotted at Bosphorus, Turkey en-route to Syria on Sunday 
	•	The Russian vessel was laden with tanks, ambulances and IED radar after Friday's US-led Syrian air strikes
	•	A RoRo Alexandr Tkachenko was also seen carrying high-speed patrol boats, temporary bridge and trucks 
	•	US, UK and French forces backed strikes that obliterated three targets in response to chemical weapon attack
	•	Vladimir Putin warned there would be 'consequences' to military action against him and Bashar al-Assad 

***

The original meaning of “avatar” was a physical manifestation of a Hindu god, for example, an antichrist imitation of Christ is achieved when Krishna, a Hindu savior is a manifested avatar of Vishnu, the saving god of the Hindu trinity (The “Trimurti”) of Brahma (creator), Shiva (destroyer), and Vishnu (savior).  Soon, we will be able to create increasingly accurate avatars of ourselves or anybody.  We will recreate ourselves.  This, with intricate AI assistance and human merging with cyber worlds, will be sold by the devil as the doorways to eternal life, but in reality they will become portals to a living hell.  Even now, such technologies can create videos and holograms of any one of us doing and saying anything at any age or stage of life.  

Hinduism is likely the most complete and thorough remembrance of ancient Babylon; now, the final “Mystery Babylon” is emerging.  Will gene tech reproduce literal blue-skinned, six-armed “gods” (again?)?

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/watch-artificial-intelligence-create-3d-model-person-just-few-seconds-video
Watch artificial intelligence create a 3D model of a person—from just a few seconds of video
Transporting yourself into a video game, body and all, just got easier. Artificial intelligence has been used to create 3D models of people’s bodies for virtual reality avatars, surveillance, visualizing fashion, or movies. But it typically requires special camera equipment to detect depth or to view someone from multiple angles. A new algorithm creates 3D models using standard video footage from one angle. … …

***
(April 17)
Monday, a strange day for the Bay Area —  “No link,” says the reporter, but it all happened the same day, yesterday;  that’s a link, to me at least!  Is God mercifully warning our West Coast Sodom?  May He spare the saints there, like Abraham’s nephew Lot.  Amen.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/16/earthquake-rattles-south-bay/
Earthquake, hail, fierce rain rattle Bay Area — but, nope, there’s no link

Hello, Monday! A 3.9 magnitude quake jolted the South Bay this morning, in an area notorious for seismic restlessness, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Around 9:40 a.m., just after San Jose residents experienced hail, torrential rain and thunderous dark clouds, the earth beneath them suddenly shifted. The 3.9 quake was centered about nine miles northeast of downtown San Jose, in the Alum Rock region. Tremors were felt in Milpitas, Fremont and Santa Clara, the USGS reported. Office towers shook in downtown San Jose.
“It was snowing and hailing, with thunder, then there was an earthquake. It felt like a big jerk, not rolling,” said Angel Barlow, park services attendant at Joseph D. Grant County Park, in the hills east of San Jose. “It was a landslide of weather!”… …

***
Though sometimes tough, how also very fragile can be the human soul!  A few drops of nasal mist can alleviate the threat and pain of contemplating suicide.  Is this medicine or “palliative sorcery?”  For sure, it is a temporary measure.  Facing mortal agonies, souls are not cured by a nasal mist, even if some temporary, materialist, chemical alteration is briefly accomplished.  It is infinitely, eternally better to “commit Christian suicide,” laying down one’s brief life here to the service of the Master in this life…and in exchange, Eternal Life, beginning now and never ending!  “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/club-drug-spray-ketamine-can-stop-suicidal-thoughts-study-finds-n866446
Club drug spray ketamine can stop suicidal thoughts, study finds
A third of suicidal patients feel much better after four hours.

***
Shades of Jurassic Park!  Mammoth clones will save the Earth! (un-huh)  Besides taking issue with the time lines (as a young earth creationist), it is notable that here is another attempt at non-divine “resurrection.”  And how will this park be bordered?  Will it take massive fortified, electrified walls to contain these beasts as in the Jurassic movies, or will a little 8’ barbed-wire-topped link fence enclose this huge area?  If we believe in Noah’s Flood, can it be that God collected only the animals of his pure and original DNA designs, and that these “altered elephants” may have been left off the Ark, along with the dinosaurs, because they were tragic and dangerous deviants created by Nephilim science before the Flood?  Time will tell.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5622395/Woolly-mammoths-come-life-SAVE-Arctic-according-Harvard-cloning-scientist.html
Woolly mammoths could come back to life and SAVE the Arctic: Harvard cloning scientist is using DNA from a 42,000-year old carcass to see the Ice Age species rise from the dead
	•	The Harvard project will modify elephant cells using frozen mammoth DNA 
	•	The enormous beasts went extinct more than 10,000 years ago
	•	The woolly mammoths would live in a 20,000 hectare Ice Age safari park
	•	This could also regenerate Arctic climates because they would stimulate the growth of vegetation 

(excerpt):  'De-extincting' the mammoth has become a realistic prospect because of revolutionary gene editing techniques that allow the precise selection and insertion of DNA from specimens frozen over millennia in Siberian ice. 
The most widely used technique, known as CRISPR/Cas9, has transformed genetic engineering since it was first demonstrated in 2012.

***
Lands in “the shadow of Gog” persecute a Christian servant —
Lord, we pray for the keeping and the deliverance of Andrew Brunson.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/detained-american-pastor-goes-trial-turkey-072819472.html
Turkey rules to keep US pastor in jail
ALIAGA (Turkey) (AFP) - A Turkish court ruled Monday to keep an American Christian pastor in custody, deeming him to be a flight risk, after his trial opened in a case that has raised tensions with Washington.
Andrew Brunson, who ran a Protestant church in the western city of Izmir, has been detained by Turkish authorities since October 2016. If convicted, he risks up to 35 years in jail.
Brunson -- wearing a black suit, speaking fluent Turkish and sometimes bursting into tears -- emphatically rejected all the charges against him at the first court hearing in the town of Aliaga north of Izmir. … …

***
(April 18)
In the final scenario “…they (sing) a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation…”  (Rev. 5:9), but we are forced to be without this peace and unity for now as different economic groups (“well-off” versus homeless, etc.), different ethnicities (Muslim vs. West, etc.), and different races (black vs. white, etc.), etc. cannot find lasting reconciliation.  This world is “fueled by iniquity,” the constant imbalances (inequalities > inequities > “iniquity”) — of one player, at the moment, being stronger, and another, at the same moment, being weaker.  We must strive to love one another as the sign of the Gospel, but it cannot be finished until the Savior comes.  Let us give way and turn the other cheek as much as possible without being overrun and destroyed.  Paul says that we must struggle to love more than we are loved in 2 Corinthians 12:15.  I call this “the law of the diminishing returns of love.”  With the cross-life we must bear, we must love more than we are loved.  This is the only solution in this world, and by it all men will see Christ, some to everlasting life and others, who reject Him, to the final destination of damnation.

Even in the natural world, since the Fall, it has been the fodder of evolutionists to speak of “the survival of the fittest,” but the Christian is to help those who are weaker and protect them, to show them the love of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and to show it to the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/starbucks-arrest-philadelphia.html
Starbucks Arrests, Outrageous to Some, Are Everyday Life for Others
PHILADELPHIA — The video of the police arresting two black men in a Starbucks, viewed more than 10 million times online, quickly prompted a full-blown crisis: accusations of racism, protests both in and around the cafe, and a corporate apology on “Good Morning America.”
But to some black Philadelphia residents who venture into Rittenhouse Square, the neighborhood where it happened, the treatment depicted in the video was a frustrating reality of everyday life. … …

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Clean-up-San-Francisco-s-streets-tourist-12839281.php
Clean up San Francisco’s streets, tourist industry pleads
(excerpt):   …Sure, San Francisco has great facets worthy of postcards and travel books, but it also has a worsening underbelly that D’Alessandro says he can no longer gloss over.
People injecting themselves with drugs in broad daylight, their dirty needles and other garbage strewn on the sidewalks. Tent camps. Human feces. The threatening behavior of some people who appear either mentally ill or high. Petty theft.
“The streets are filthy. There’s trash everywhere. It’s disgusting,” D’Alessandro said, adding he’s traveled the world, and San Francisco stands out for the wrong reasons. “I’ve never seen any other city like this — the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs.
“How can it be?” he continued. “How can it have gotten to this point?” … …

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/947372/london-news-morrissey-sadiq-khan-london-knife-crime
‘London is DEBASED' Morrissey rages at Sadiq Khan after violent epidemic
MORRISSEY has slammed London Mayor Sadiq Khan following the rise of violent attacks recorded in the capital saying London is “second only to Bangladesh” and claimed Mr Khan “cannot talk properly”.
The former Smiths frontman lashed out at the Mayor of London in an interview discussing his views on racism, violence and the capital.
And Morrissey stated that London “is debased” and that “civilisation is over”.

***
(April 19)
Well, here it (or “he”) comes.  If this tabloid report is of any veracity, then the era of Cylon Galactica is arriving now —
I admit to a fascination with robots; they could be very valuable helpers and walking, seamlessly-communicating computers, but what of “the down side” of humanoids, created by Man in the image of Man?  Our track record in “Original Sin” is visible already, and utterly polluting, in the cyber world too. What devils are we likely to set loose, literally, and what less is the overruling might of the Image of the Beast, “the Mega-bot,” that shall administrate death, through worldwide nodes of ‘bots, against recalcitrant humans worldwide? (Rev. 13:15)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5630065/Malfunctioning-robot-terrifies-drinkers-London-pub.html
Hyper-realistic robot that is ‘indistinguishable from humans’ startles punters at a London pub by smashing a glass while talking about a machine invasion
	•	Fred was built by engineers from robotics company Engineered Arts
	•	They recreated 3D-scanned details taken from 55-year-old Tedroy Newell
	•	To field test the robot a London pub was rigged with hidden cameras  
	•	The automaton struck up conversations with unsuspecting members of the public before crushing the glass as part of a stunt to promote Westworld

(excerpt):  …It is an issue troubling some of the greatest minds in the world at the moment, from Bill Gates to Elon Musk.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk described AI as our 'biggest existential threat' and likened its development as 'summoning the demon'.
He believes super intelligent machines could use humans as pets.
Professor Stephen Hawking said it is a 'near certainty' that a major technological disaster will threaten humanity in the next 1,000 to 10,000 years.
They could steal jobs 
More than 60 percent of people fear that robots will lead to there being fewer jobs in the next ten years, according to a 2016 YouGov survey.
And 27 percent predict that it will decrease the number of jobs 'a lot' with previous research suggesting admin and service sector workers will be the hardest hit.
As well as posing a threat to our jobs, other experts believe AI could 'go rogue' and become too complex for scientists to understand.
A quarter of the respondents predicted robots will become part of everyday life in just 11 to 20 years, with 18 percent predicting this will happen within the next decade. …

***
Israel begins 70th Independence celebration culminating May 14.  Of three biblical generational markers (40, 70, and 100 years), seventy marks the fullness of a generation that has lived long enough to see another generation come to fullness behind it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-marks-70-years-nation-old-challenges-lurk-111158076.html
Israel marks 70 years as a nation as new and old challenges lurk
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel celebrated 70 years since the country's foundation on Wednesday, lauding its improbable economic success and military prowess, but facing a range of political and security challenges.
The anniversary of the proclamation of the state of Israel by founding father David Ben-Gurion began at sundown on Wednesday under the Hebrew calendar, but falls on May 14 according to the Western calendar.
At the traditional Jerusalem torch-lighting ceremony kicking off what Israelis call Independence Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed what he called "real seeds of peace" he said were beginning to sprout among some of Israel's Arab neighbours.
He did not elaborate, but there have been signs of warming ties, particularly with Saudi Arabia which -- like Israel -- sees Iran as a growing threat.
"Our hand is outstretched in peace to all of our neighbours who want peace," Netanyahu said in Hebrew.
"And to our enemies who think that we are a passing phenomenon, I have news for you: In 70 years from now you fill find here a country seven times stronger than what we have done so far. This is just the beginning!"
The ceremony will be followed throughout the evening by open-air concerts, public dancing and fireworks across Israel.
Earlier, at a remembrance day ceremony, Netanyahu spoke of the "barbaric zealotry of radical Islam" and reiterated warnings about Iran and its presence in neighbouring Syria.
He has said that Israel cannot accept the Islamic republic entrenching itself militarily in the war-torn country, where Tehran is backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime. … …

***

(April 20)
So much for a quiet walk in the woods seeking solitude — Big Brother’s “eyes in the skies” moving to greater powers.  Will even thick cover hide guerrillas (or peaceful solitude seekers), or will added optic features like infrared keep every soul under constant scrutiny?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5634953/Bill-Gates-backs-1-billion-plan-cover-Earth-Big-Brother-satellites.html
Bill Gates backs a $1 billion plan to cover Earth in 'Big Brother' satellites capable of streaming 'live and unfiltered' HD footage of the planet
	•	Japanese firm Softbank and aerospace giant Airbus are also backing the project
	•	500-strong network of spacecraft will monitor Earth with and livestream video
	•	Applications could including tracking illegal fishing, monitoring the weather and tracking natural migrations globally 

***
(April 21)
Noticed that we are suddenly getting stiffed again on gasoline prices?  Ah, “iniquity;” it never ends.  Gas should be about a buck a gallon in my humble opinion, but the greed mongers try again!  God will supply to his believing saints no matter what the mammon propagandists come up with.  Praise His Name!  OPEC minister says, “Markets should determine price.”  Translation:  Whatever we can con.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/20/trump-says-opec-is-keeping-oil-prices-artificially-very-high-and-that-will-not-be-accepted.html
Trump blasts OPEC, says cartel is keeping oil prices 'artificially very high' and that 'will not be accepted'
	•	"Looks like OPEC is at it again," Trump tweets. "Oil prices are artificially Very High!
	•	WTI oil prices hit a three-year high above $69 a barrel this week.
	•	Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih responds that "Markets should determine price."
***
A new techno-monster on the block!  Mini to Giant Robot Squid ready to put the squeeze on opponents.  Self-aware, self-programming, able to be 3D printed quickly right on a battlefield or coming up from below in beach and ocean scenarios!
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/04/18/army-researchers-are-developing-a-self-aware-robot-squid-you-can-3d-print-in-the-field/
Army researchers are developing a self-aware robot squid you can 3D print in the field
(excerpt):  “If we can understand these interactions, then we can use those insights to fabricate dynamic structures and flexible robots which are designed to be self-aware, self-sensing and capable of adjusting their morphologies and properties in real time to adapt to a myriad of external and internal conditions,” Habtour said.

***
Here in my locality, a town library is featuring a “drag queen story hour for children” where they gather around a man dressed as a woman reading to them, while now in Minnesota a school bus driver is removed for praying with his children!  Come soon, our Lord; Sodom rages at your people.  Lord, we pray you cover for our brother, George, and give him wisdom and direction.  Amen.
http://kstp.com/news/twin-cities-school-bus-driver-removed-leading-prayer-quality-care-transportation-removed-george-nathaniel-nasha-shkola/4874378/
Twin Cities School Bus Driver Removed after Leading Prayer

*** ***
April 20: New day of infamy?
Skinheads meet to celebrate Hitler’s birthday while American Potheads celebrate “the new national holiday” of “4/20,” a date some California high school potheads first setup as a time, 4:20, to toke-up after classes.  A huge harvest of drug heads is prepared for whatever conqueror arrives to slaughter them.  The Opioid Crisis already kills dozens a day.  One drug lead to another?  Only hypnotized pundits can vomit out “facts” to deny this which is obvious to those who are still awake.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-neo-nazis-mass-festival-hitlers-birthday-092322294.html

German neo-Nazis mass for festival on Hitler's birthday

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/04/19/april-20-420-marijuana-massachusetts-driving/
High Alert: State Warns Drivers To Use Caution On 4/20
BOSTON (CBS) – The state is asking drivers to be on high alert on Friday, as research shows the April 20 date brings an increase in the number of drivers under the influence of marijuana.
A recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found a 12 percent increase in deadly crashes on April 20 after 4:20 p.m. … …

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/04/20/san-francisco-marijuana-420-hippie-hill-golden-gate-park/
4/20 Marijuana Haze Rises From San Francisco’s Hippie Hill
The tide is rolling in —
http://freebeacon.com/politics/chuck-schumer-wants-legalize/
Chuck Schumer Wants to Legalize It
Top Senate Dem. announces marijuana legislation on 4/20  (ed. note:  I “toad” you so!  What slimeballs, to quote the Prez.)

***  ***
I try really hard to stay out of politics, but if anyone is more messed up than the scrambling Republicans it’s the idiot Democrats!  Now, they are suing Russia for their loss in 2016.  Vladmir must be rolling on the floor in belly laughs.  I am.  God save us both (and some Democrats too!)!   Vladmir is at least a baptized, professing Orthodox believer.  What is Schumer, above?  Panting and toking after the devil for votes?!  I tremble for Russia at the things that are determined to happen for them; they are in the prophecies with great specifics.  I like Vladmir.  He makes more sense than Congress.  May God forgive him for his former transgressions and keep him from new ones.  Let it be a yet upcoming leader who sallies forth with Gog.  Is the US in prophecy?  Maybe the great eagle in Revelation?  But, we know this, “God is not mocked.  Whatsoever a man (or nation) sows, that shall it also reap.”  Russia turned from official atheism to at least nominal Christianity whereas the West has embraced atheistic satanism as its “liberal divine-right.”  Shall the Judge of All be mocked?  Not so!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/politics/dnc-russia-trump-lawsuit.html?emc=edit_th_180421&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980421
Democratic Party Alleges Trump-Russia Conspiracy in New Lawsuit
The Democratic National Committee opened a surprise legal assault on President Trump on Friday, filing a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the organization was the victim of a conspiracy by Russian officials, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks to damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential run.
The 66-page complaint, filed in federal court in New York, uses the publicly known facts of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling to accuse Mr. Trump’s associates of illegally working with Russian intelligence agents to interfere with the outcome of the election. In the document, the committee accuses Republicans and the Russians of “an act of previously unimaginable treachery.”
The sweeping lawsuit startled Republicans in Washington as well as Democratic leaders, who were only briefed at the last minute about the D.N.C.’s plans to pursue civil litigation. Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic Party, said the committee had alerted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrats in Congress, “when we were about to file.”
Mr. Trump, in a tweet Friday evening, chided “obstructionist Democrats” for filing the complaint and suggested it could backfire if Republicans got access in court to the D.N.C.’s hacked email servers. … …

***
(April 22)
Is Facebook a voice of international control, a voice for the machinations of the Beast, managing population groups by turning them against one another with “fake news”?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/world/asia/facebook-sri-lanka-riots.html?emc=edit_th_180422&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980422
Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match
False rumors set Buddhist against Muslim in Sri Lanka, the most recent in a global spate of violence fanned by social media.
MEDAMAHANUWARA, Sri Lanka — Past the end of a remote mountain road, down a rutted dirt track, in a concrete house that lacked running water but bristled with smartphones, 13 members of an extended family were glued to Facebook. And they were furious.
A family member, a truck driver, had died after a beating the month before. It was a traffic dispute that had turned violent, the authorities said. But on Facebook, rumors swirled that his assailants were part of a Muslim plot to wipe out the country’s Buddhist majority.
“We don’t want to look at it because it’s so painful,” H.M. Lal, a cousin of the victim, said as family members nodded. “But in our hearts there is a desire for revenge that has built.”
The rumors, they believed, were true. Still, the family, which is Buddhist, did not join in when Sinhalese-language Facebook groups, goaded on by extremists with wide followings on the platform, planned attacks on Muslims, burning a man to deathBut they had shared and could recite the viral Facebook memes constructing an alternate reality of nefarious Muslim plots. Mr. Lal called them “the embers beneath the ashes” of Sinhalese anger.We came to this house to try to understand the forces of social disruption that have followed Facebook’s rapid expansion in the developing world, whose markets represent the company’s financial future. For months, we had been tracking riots and lynchings around the world linked to misinformation and hate speech on Facebook, which pushes whatever content keeps users on the site longest — a potentially damaging practice in countries with weak institutions… …

***
“If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t,” goes the old proverb.  The leader of North Korea imprisons thousands of Christians in labor camps; he threw his own uncle, a military leader out of favor, into a cage of hungry, wild dogs, and for an audience which he cheer-led.  His present gestures now show how fast “fake news” can change a scenario.  Lord God, please give our Administration divine wisdom in dealing with him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/trump-north-korea.html?emc=edit_th_180422&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980422
What Does Kim Jong-un Want? U.S. Fears Answer Is ‘Give a Little, Gain a Lot’
WASHINGTON — As North Korea’s reclusive ruler, Kim Jong-un, prepares for a landmark meeting with President Trump, he has seized the diplomatic high ground, making conciliatory gestures on nuclear testing and American troops that have buoyed hopes in South Korea and won praise from Mr. Trump himself, who called it “big progress.”
But Mr. Kim’s audacious moves are unsettling officials in the United States, Japan and China. Some suspect he is posturing in advance of the summit meeting, as well as a separate meeting this coming week with South Korea’s president, and has no real intention of acceding to demands that he relinquish his nuclear weapons.
They worry that his gestures could put Mr. Trump on the defensive in the difficult negotiations to come, by offering symbolically potent but substantively modest concessions in place of genuine disarmament — what one senior American official labeled a “freeze trap.”
The sudden offer of olive branches, from a leader who only four months ago warned the United States that he was ready to launch missiles from a nuclear button on his desk, is sharpening a question that has long bedeviled North Korea watchers: What does Mr. Kim want?In Washington, most officials and experts believe that the North Korean leader is determined to cement his country’s status as a nuclear state while escaping the chokehold of economic sanctions. His concessions on nuclear testing and the presence of American troops in South Korea, they said, are calculated to prod the United States into easing such penalties, even before the North dismantles its arsenal. … …

***
 Peace I leave with you, 
my peace I give unto you:
 not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27

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April 15 

Saints,

There are apocalyptic events, tides, and movements in every generation; it is the intense increase of them that will signal the end of the Age.  Even before the Flood, “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11) (also indicating a vastly populated Earth then).  And even before that, a terrible punishment for the first sinning woman and her sinning man was that of their first two children, one would murder the other.  Sin, and the apocalyptic tension between the ways of the world and the way of faith, always produces death and destruction.  Nevertheless, it will hit its crescendo when the obedient church is taken up and the fullness of demonic and satanic rage is let loose:  “As it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man.” (Luke 17:26)  Like the wise virgins of Matthew 25, keep your hearts ready, be watching, and keep your lamps (your light) trimmed and bright and filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit: “Ask and ye shall receive.”

“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (God, The Holy Spirit) who letteth (restrains) will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed…”  (see 2 Thess. 2)

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”  (Hebrews 2:1 &ff,)

***
The Week —
(April 8)
Something close to “the Mark” besets India —  (The writer mentions Big Brother but says absolutely nothing about The Mark Of The Beast, thoughts perhaps only current to students of the Word? …and now not PC to be mentioned in media?…though much pop-culture knows at least a little something about “666” and the antichrist.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/technology/india-id-aadhaar.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
‘Big Brother’ in India Requires Fingerprint Scans for Food, Phones and Finances
NEW DELHI — Seeking to build an identification system of unprecedented scope, India is scanning the fingerprints, eyes and faces of its 1.3 billion residents and connecting the data to everything from welfare benefits to mobile phones.
Civil libertarians are horrified, viewing the program, called Aadhaar, as Orwell’s Big Brother brought to life. To the government, it’s more like “big brother,” a term of endearment used by many Indians to address a stranger when asking for help.
For other countries, the technology could provide a model for how to track their residents. And for India’s top court, the ID system presents unique legal issues that will define what the constitutional right to privacy means in the digital age. … …

***
(April 9)
“Gen 1” Terminators go online, breaching defenses on a battlefield, “saving human lives” —

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/04/08/robots-replace-soldiers-first-breaching-exercise-its-kind.html
Robots Replace Soldiers in First Breaching Exercise of its Kind
"We did a robotic breach today, which has never been done before. This is a historic moment," said 1st Lt. Cody Rothschild, an officer with the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, currently on rotation in Europe. "This is a great step forward for the Army, and for robotics." … …

***
Actions in Syria keep heating up the prelude to Ezekiel’s WW3.  Is Syria the trigger?  How can things continue to heat up when they are already at a boil?  God knows.
https://apnews.com/d965ed6a364f46fd9888acb9001de501/Israel-blamed-for-missile-strike-in-Syria;-14-reported-dead
Israel blamed for missile strike in Syria; 14 reported dead
BEIRUT (AP) — Russia and the Syrian military blamed Israel for a pre-dawn missile attack Monday on a major air base in central Syria, saying Israeli fighter jets launched the missiles from Lebanon’s air space. A war-monitoring group said the airstrikes killed 14 people, including Iranians active in Syria.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said two Israeli aircraft targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, firing eight missiles. It said Syria shot down five of them while the other three landed in the western part of the base. Syrian state TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Israeli F-15 warplanes fired several missiles at T4. It gave no further details.
Israel’s foreign ministry had no comment when asked about the accusations.
Since 2012, Israel has struck inside Syria more than 100 times, mostly targeting suspected weapons’ convoys destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been fighting alongside Syrian government forces. … …
U.S. quick to deny blame: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-meast-crisis-syria-airfield/syria-russia-accuse-israel-of-missile-attack-on-air-base-idUSKBN1HG04Q
***

Is it just a near-instant news cycle in which many of the planet’s 7.46 billion citizens are able to hear all the news hourly, or is the earth just once again “filled with violence” as in the days before the Flood, even the mayhem of catastrophes and accidents which pour out as quickly as the violence between individuals and between nations?  On mayhem, we now have two huge bus accidents in two days, one in Canada, one in New York.  Global grief and shock over the Canadian one, killing many teens, sees group-funding, an internet phenomena, raising well over 4 million dollars almost overnight.  Sure, this will pay for the funerals, but what good will it do beyond that…bring back the dead?  The world seems so bound in such grief as to incite global reactionary hysteria.

http://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/trending/humboldt-broncos-bus-crash-fundraiser-tops-4-6-million-dollars-1.3742129
HUMBOLDT BRONCOS BUS CRASH FUNDRAISER TOPS $4.6 MILLION DOLLARS

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs-SF01&ts=sy&st=ds&type=ANYS_A03EJ_ext_bcr_T&u_ip=209.105.130.126&obt9bpdyed=0&p=new+york+bus+accident&param1=ij7zzSxCeE_ZFQBL52KUQ7WaR0LBpmqEelLLfsTgjj5n1JN6tper26Vs1oR3uUIGECDSPgUfZ5Zp78AzRKvXmp5aboCnuquwGdWgX96VvI0-aKivDRCjVKV9O8GijZNdZVfQ74WGVFGWbxxHkooNMYhmVUIdSFveVuTdSbNRb-Xb4DtMHC8QOBVbSDW7YFQuzy3tpn-assoKT-wfmPEJbAlFda4%2c
New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass
LAKEVIEW, N.Y. (AP) - A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus

Planetary Nerves on Edge? 
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article208264139.html
Lockdown at Dolphin Mall lifted. Mayor says 'shots fired' possibly a 'hoax' — again

***
LSD opens the door of the fallen spiritual world to the human mind and experience.  Can we just “open it a crack”?  What folly.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/690898/lsd-acid-microdosing-microdose-drugs-dark-web
LSD making comeback as professionals drop ACID before work
EATING tiny amounts of psychedelics like LSD can improve performance in the office and on the track, experts have shockingly claimed.
***
The signature, a unique and individual, literate, and willfully given identity mark gives way to a digital world where constant and instant identity is the job of the AI—
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/08/business/credit-card-signatures.html?emc=edit_th_180409&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980409
Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S.

…The signature, a centuries-old way of verifying identity, is rapidly going extinct. Personal checks are anachronisms. Pen-and-ink letters are scarce. When credit card signatures disappear, handwritten authentications will be relegated to a few special circumstances: sealing a giant transaction like a house purchase, or getting a celebrity to autograph a piece of memorabilia — and even that is being supplanted by the cellphone selfie. … …

***
(April 10)
Somethin’s shakin’ loose down there?  I remember an earlier day of my faith when I thought hell was an extradimensional reality and only a concept here.  But, taking the Scriptures at face value, Hades begins with the grave but ends up being in the molten center of the Earth.  What powers are trapped down there, along with the damned souls of mortal men?  Do these Titans connect from interdimensional “worm holes” with the Abyss, with Tartarus?  Are earthquakes only tectonic plates shifting, or may those plates be set in motion by the sentient struggles of great powers seeking escape from their confinements in the approaching hour of the Apocalypse and the ascent of the hordes of Hell out of the bottomless pit?  Time will tell.  (Could “bottomless” indicate confinement in a gravity sphere —the inner Earth— where there is no up or down, no floor or ceiling? …only a grave and constant drawing, a convection current (?) to the hot center of torment?  See Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3)

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/943476/earthquake-california-Oklahoma-Texas-Nebraska-latest-news-USGS
Earthquake strikes US: California, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska hit in quick succession 
A STRING of powerful earthquakes have rocked the west and central US with several of them hitting near to the dreaded RING OF FIRE.

***
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times,” said Dickens.  What a terrible time for the U.S. to be so internally divided.  The hating enemies of the Administration fill the ranks of the Washington Post, the New York Times, the FBI, the endless Mueller entrance, on down to the wild-eyed crazies, the anarchists on the street.  We must pray for God to hold the line until the work is done.  In the meantime, what is the bigger news, if approaching in a slightly sleeper-mode, is the grave increase of widespread war in the Middle East.  Syria seems to be the touchpoint for the gathering of the hordes of Gog under the coalescing leadership of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, principal players in Ezekiel’s WW3 (chapters 38 and 39).  Israel even jumps in with some rocket attacks on Iranian positions in Syria. The “good news:” this war seems to have a nuclear component with “fire falling on those who dwell carelessly in the coastlands (NIV),” the descriptive of cities in far-flung global places.  Good news?  Yes, this “cover story” by God Himself may be the opportunity He has planned to suddenly snatch away his obedient and watching people worldwide, just before the nukes land.  This would make our departure a “secret Rapture” indeed as the world will be in such shock that it will be difficult to discern who has been “snatched away” and who has simply been incinerated.  What times we are in!  And how much must we carefully focus on the promise of the Lord and be watching and praying.
http://middle-east.timesofnews.com/iran-israel-conflict-escalates-in-shadow-of-syrian-civil-war.html
Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates in Shadow of Syrian Civil War
Russian and Iranian news services reported that two Israeli F-15 war planes carried out the strike, which a conflict monitor said killed 14 people. The Russian military said the planes had approached from the Mediterranean Sea before firing from Lebanese airspace. Syria’s air defense systems shot down five of the eight missiles fired, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
The other three missiles hit a Syrian military base known as T4 that has played a central role in Iran’s expanding military activities in Syria.
Iran has long been a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Both countries see themselves as part of the “Axis of Resistance,” an alliance of forces opposed to American and Israeli influence in the Middle East. … …

Client/Attorney privilege not for these stormtroopers?
https://archive.fo/uIO5N

F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump’s Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen; Trump Calls It ‘Disgraceful’

The F.B.I. raided the office and hotel room of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, on Monday, seizing business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including payments to a pornographic film actress.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/trump-to-decide-soon-whether-to-retaliate-for-%E2%80%98barbaric-act%E2%80%99-in-syria/ar-AAvH49p?li=AAggbRN
Trump to Decide Soon Whether to Retaliate for ‘Barbaric Act’ in Syria
President Trump on Monday denounced the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria over the weekend as a “barbaric act,” and said he will make a decision in the next 24 to 48 hours about whether to retaliate militarily as he did to a similar assault last year. … …
excerpt:  “If it’s Russia, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out and we’ll know the answers quite soon,” he said. “So we’re looking at that very strongly and very seriously.”

***
The NYTimes does an excellent short video on Facebooks’ reach, what I would call the attempt by the powers of antichrist to achieve over the populace the divine characteristics of omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.  Facebook knows more about you than you do.
http://www.newsifi.com/finance/does-facebook-know-you-better-than-yourself.htm
Does Facebook Know You Better Than Yourself?
***
(April 11)
The recent and still ongoing “me too” movement, while it has many legitimate complaints, threatens to undo constitutional “due process” with lynch mob hysteria.  Now, “attorney-client privilege” is also under assault with the raid on Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.  Surely, the President should be reproved for personal moral flaws, but it takes a pack of ravenous wolves to try to tie this to the so far empty claims of collusion with Russia on unrelated matters.  Will the Constitution, and thus the nation, survive much longer, even past the next election?  It is a good thing God still holds the reins, for the race to self-destruction is out of control otherwise.  Lord, we pray Thee, save those who are yours out of this mess; please also keep the President and his associates from “taking the bait” and erring in decision-making; thwart also the wolves who want only blood.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5601007/Mueller-violated-Michael-Cohens-constitutional-rights-just-seizing-records-says-Dershowitz.html
Justice Department violated Michael Cohen's constitutional rights just by seizing his records, Alan Dershowitz tells DailyMail.com – hours before Harvard law professor has dinner with Trump
	•	Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz will have dinner Tuesday at the White House with President Donald Trump
	•	He tells DailyMail.com that the Department of Justice violated Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's rights when it seized his documents on Monday
	•	The government will set up a team of agents and lawyers to review the material to make sure prosecutors don't see anything 'privileged'
	•	That could include documents covered by the sanctity of an attorney-client relationship, whose mere presence in prosecutors' hands could 'taint' a case
	•	But since those 'taint teams' are made up of government agents, Dershowitz says the DOJ already has them – which is unconstitutional
	•	UCLA Law School professor Harry Litman says the system works well and there's 'absolutely no cheating' because the stakes are so high
	•	Dershowitz also claimed Monday that if Trump were a Democrat, the American Civil Liberties Union would be protesting the search of his lawyer's office 

***
PC Goes Stark Raving Mad — A Condition of “Global Psychosis” in Sports — Everything sinking into “trans-goo.”  A man born male could win the Boston Marathon, running as a woman, and taking the $150,000 prize money away from a biological woman runner!
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2158
The End Of Girls Sports? - Male Trans Athletes Changing Face Of Sports
Her dreams of a scholarship shattered, your 14-year-old daughter just lost her position on an all-girl team to a male…and now she may have to shower with him.

***
Remember to do the same…daily, in these troubled days.  “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/video-alabama-football-players-pray-with-trump-after-white-house-ceremony/
VIDEO: Alabama football players surround Trump in prayer after White House ceremony

A remarkable thing happened while the media was focused on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate testimony: After a White House ceremony, several Alabama football players huddled around President Trump and prayed with him.
WBRC’s Christina Chamber captured the moment: (open link to see video)
“What a cool moment!” Chambers tweeted on Tuesday.
Alabama punter JK Scott “asked @POTUS if he could pray for him and his staff,” she reported.
Chambers’s video shows several players surrounding the president with their heads bowed.
***
(April 13)
If I guess every date from this day forward, I could “predict the Rapture”!  So-called Bible students constantly predict the Rapture in spite of numerous verses telling us not to do that.  Some of them may still be Christians, if erring ones, as Jesus tells us some of his commands may be broken or misused, but that the doer may only be seen as “least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19) for doing so.  But others are at least dupes of Satan if not direct infiltrators and agents.  We are to watch for Christ’s return from our hearts which love Him and long for Him.  It could happen any day, and it will happen when the Father gives the signal to the Son.  Yes, it could be this April 23.  I hope it is, yea sooner, but this false prophet, relying on mixing Scripture with astrology – an abomination — does not have a word from the Lord but is in sin.  God save him.  Also,  in spite of “true” tabloid “reporting” the Rapture is not “the end of the world,” but a chief marker of the End of the Age, with many biblical signs indicating that it will precede Armageddon by about the 7 years of the Tribulation.  And the Earth is not yet utterly destroyed even by Armageddon, but Christ returns to save it and its inhabitants from complete destruction (Rev. 11:18), and so heals the Earth and the nations for his 1000 year reign, the next Age, and only after that does the whole of the present material world pass away, and that only so that a perfect New Heavens and New Earth are established for Eternity!

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/944211/end-of-the-world-rapture-april-23-prediction
End of the world 2018: Will the Rapture occur on April 23? SHOCK prediction says YES
THE end of the world could be arriving sooner than we thought, as a new theory suggests we are now in the ‘end times’. Could this shock prophecy be true? Will the Rapture occur on April 23?

***
(April 14)
The President and our allies perform surgical strikes against the Assad regime.  The NYTimes, which constantly loathes him, blasts his actions as well as his reticence all in one headline!  “Damned if you do; damned if you don’t,” comes to mind!
Meanwhile, will the scriptures* which indicate the sudden and utter destruction of Damascus be the foretelling of the triggers for the widespread and probably nuclear war, “WW3,” of which Ezekiel prophesied in much detail in chapters 38 and 39?
*(Isaiah 17:1 ff; Jeremiah 49: 23-27, Amos 1: 3-6)
It is our duty to earnestly pray for the Administration.  We assist in our own preservation thereby:  “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/trump-syria-attack.html?emc=edit_th_180414&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980414

President Trump Talked Tough. But His Strike on Syria Was Restrained.

WASHINGTON — In sending missiles and bombs at Syria, President Trump hit more targets and used more firepower than he did in a similar military strike last year. But in the end, he opted for what was still a restrained operation that was evidently calculated to avoid provoking Syria’s patrons in Russia and Iran into retaliating.

The United States and its European allies chose three targets instead of the single air base hit last year and used twice as many weapons. Still, American officials said the attack was intended as a proportional strike aimed specifically at Syria’s chemical weapons facilities rather than a broader set of targets and was a one-time, one-night assault to punish Damascus for a suspected gas attack last weekend.

In the days before the strike, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis cautioned against a quick assault without a more thought-through strategy. He expressed concern about the potential for escalating the conflict by drawing Russia and Iran into a deeper confrontation with the United States in a country where all three have forces on the ground. With Russian and Iranian forces supporting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the potential for miscues weighed on military planners. … …

***
Nowhere to run; nowhere to hide (except in the Lord) —
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5611645/Future-devices-let-companies-scan-body-detect-mood-health.html
Spy cameras could soon know what we're thinking and feeling simply by scanning our BODIES - and there may be no way to opt-out
	•	The claims were made by Dolby Labs' chief scientist Poppy Crum at Ted 2018
	•	She studies people's reactions as they watch films using scanning techniques 
	•	Future devices could be set up in public spaces to harvest this valuable data 
	•	There will be no way for us to opt out or ditch this passive technology, she warns
	
The data we share with companies online has become a hot-button issue, but new technologies could soon be scanning us as we go about our day.
That's the claim made by a neuroscientist, who believes that devices in the real world will start gathering unprecedented levels of information about us.
Our bodies give off various signals that can be scanned and analysed by advanced computer systems, revealing everything from our current mood to our overall health.
In a similar way to wearable gadgets already available, future devices could be set up throughout public spaces to harvest this valuable bio-data. … …

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/hitech/drivers-using-mobile-phones-could-be-fined-without-even-knowing-theyve-been-caught/news-story/ecb141e8552b39560f7f395802e447d7
Drivers using mobile phones could be fined without even knowing they’ve been caught
NEW hi-tech cameras that detect drivers using their mobile phones without them even
knowing and automatically issues fines could soon change everything.
Citizenry feeling utter futility of no privacy left — an art exhibit
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/technology/china-personal-data-museum.html?emc=edit_th_180414&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980414
The Personal Data of 346,000 People, Hung on a Museum Wall
BEIJING — Deng Yufeng wanted to create art that prods people to question their lack of data privacy. What better way, he reasoned, than to buy the personal information of more than 300,000 Chinese people off the internet and display it in a public exhibition.
The police did not appreciate the irony.
Last week, the authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan shut down Mr. Deng’s exhibition in a local museum after two days and told him that he was being investigated on suspicion of amassing the information through illegal means.
Mr. Deng’s project coincides with a growing debate about the lack of data privacy in China, where people are starting to push back against tech companies and their use of information. Online brokers regularly, and illegally, buy and sell personal information online. Chinese people are often bombarded with calls and text messages offering bank loans or home purchases that seem too personalized to be random. … …

***
(April 15)
A piece on the changes brought by Bolton and surrounding his entrance to the administration notes this:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article208910104.html
Bolton, key Trump adviser, has evolved his views on Syria
(excerpt):  …What was once a civil war in Syria evolved into a broader battle against armed Islamic radicals under the umbrella of ISIS and its quest to establish a caliphate. Now that the extremists have been largely defeated, Syria is occupied by military forces from other countries adverse to the United States.
“What’s changed in Syria is the significant influence of Iran, of Hezbollah and of Russia,” said Zuhdi Jasser, a Syrian-American who is founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. “It is no longer a civil war … It is a regional proxy war in which the Shia radical Islamists based in Tehran are seeking to homogenize the crescent through Iraq, through Syria and into Lebanon.” … …
(ed. — Are the players taking their places for Ezekiel’s WW3?)
***
US weather this weekend: vast grass fires, a blitz of tornadoes, a blizzard — all at once!
http://www.wtsp.com/mobile/article/news/nation-now/blizzards-tornadoes-fires-wild-storm-to-deliver-all-sorts-of-extreme-weather-across-nation-this-weekend/465-44a06ff4-33a2-4697-a109-8ff4f32011c5
BLIZZARDS, TORNADOES, FIRES: WILD STORM TO DELIVER ALL SORTS OF EXTREME WEATHER ACROSS NATION THIS WEEKEND
From fire to ice: Wild storm to unleash extremes
A powerhouse storm will bring a variety of wild weather to much of the USA through the weekend.
The potpourri will include heavy snow, ice, severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes, wildfires and wild extremes in temperatures.
Heavy snow will be the big story in the north-central U.S., with some areas seeing an unusual April blizzard. Farther south, a three-day severe weather outbreak is forecast, where people all the way from eastern Texas to the Carolina coast will have to keep an eye on the sky for tornadoes and hail.
Drenching rain will also lead to flash flooding in some parts of the Southeast. The Southwest will endure more hot, dry winds, which will quickly spread any wildfires that start.
Finally, the Eastern Seaboard will get a summertime preview as temperatures soar to June-like levels this weekend ahead of a strong cold front that will return temps back to March-like readings.
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
On the colder side of the storm, heavy snow is forecast to bring blizzard conditions in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Some parts of South Dakota and Nebraska could get up to 20 inches of snow. 
Heavy snow was already falling across the region Friday morning. Dozens of schools canceled classes in South Dakota.
Winds gusting as high as 50 mph could cause whiteout conditions from the blowing snow, the National Weather Service in Rapid City, S.D., warned. 

***
In the world ye shall have tribulation: 
but be of good cheer; 
 I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

*****************************************************
Click links, or copy and paste to browser, for each story in full.  For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

April 8  

Saints,

When we become overrun, weary, confused about the Truth, our God steps in for the sake of those who love Him.  No church can sustain Truth over generations for religious flesh and blood will quickly rise to cast down prophets, revolutionaries of the Gospel, and committed disciples when they pass on.  Church history is rampant with it.  But, God Himself raises up new generations of living believers.  Those who continue in tribulation must rejoice in this.  For when we are weak, then are we strong, says St. Paul.  We must do all we can, laying down our lives at the foot of the Cross, but, Praise God, it is Him directly that renews the message of the Gospel from generation to generation.  “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard (a battle flag) against him.  (Isa. 59:19)  Let us do all we can and take our stands, but it is the Lord Who wins the battle.  We can rejoice in that, and we can also rest in that.  Praise be to his mighty Name, the beautiful name of our Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord!

***
The Week —

(April 2)
No matter what your politics, empathies, or morals, there cannot be a nation that does not have distinctive borders.  God established the nations way back in Genesis 10, and the same principles apply to later nations and kingdoms.  It is the will of the spirit of antichrist to destroy the nations and bring in “one nation,” his one-world empire.  But it is the duty of the more righteous nations to resist him as long as possible.  Even at the foundation of ancient Israel, God forbad that they should take certain lands that He had given to others, while commanding them to cast out from the borders of the new Israel, which He granted to them, certain other tribes and peoples polluted by Nephilim genetics and idolatries.  And while He will eventually expand the borders of Israel, for now He has established that nation and all nations as sovereign, bordered states.  When those borders collapse on a larger and global scale, the time of the Beast is at hand.  The taunting flow from Mexico, mocking the border, is like unto the Vandals overflowing the Roman Empire and the present overrun of Western Europe.  If it cannot be slowed and stopped, the U.S. as a sovereign country is nearing its end.
 
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/01/trump-links-us-border-wall-to-nafta-renegotiation-warns-mexico-must-stop-drug-people-flows.html
Trump links US border wall to NAFTA renegotiation, warns Mexico 'must stop drug, people flows'
	•	President Donald Trump said Mexico must do more to stop the flow of drugs and people across its border, claiming the country is ridiculing U.S. weakness on the issue.
	•	"They must stop ... or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA," Trump tweeted.

President Donald Trump on Sunday explicitly linked his proposal to build a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico to ongoing NAFTA negotiations, as he renewed a warning that the flow of illicit drugs and undocumented immigrants from the country "must stop."
Via Twitter, the president ripped the U.S.'s southern neighbor for doing "very little, if nothing" to stem illegal immigration and narcotics from flowing across the border. He repeated a threat he made earlier this year, warning that successful trade pact renegotiations may hinge on Mexico making efforts to secure its side of border. … …

***
Anti-Semitism erupts from “the new left” (a confusing misnomer) of Islamic immigration as well as “the old right” of Nazi sympathizers.  Strange bedfellows; can’t last long with seething hatreds all around?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-struggles-with-an-unfamiliar-form-of-anti-semitism-1522584002
Germany Struggles With an Unfamiliar Form of Anti-Semitism
With prejudice against Jews cropping up among migrants, fears grow that ‘a new generation of anti-Semites is coming of age in Germany’

***
Alas, Hawking saw an end of the present universe and died expecting darkness, but could not the glimpse the God Who Himself says He will fold up the present universe and put it away as an old garment (Isaiah 51:6; Psalm102:25-28), BUT will then create a New Heavens and a New Earth that is Eternal, Free of all Sin and Evil, and Pure…for Himself and his own pleasure, for the hosts of Heaven, for the Holy Angels, and for us, Redeemed Mankind! (2 Peter 3:7-13; Rev. 21:1)
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/692841/stephen-hawking-funeral-today-Cambridge-professor-final-message
Stephen Hawking’s final message to humanity: ‘Our universe will fade into darkness’
STEPHEN Hawking left humanity with a harrowing Doomsday warning about how the world would end just weeks before he passed away.

***
Sounds like the Class Eugenics of Huxley’s Brave New World:  Alphas, Betas, Gammas, and Deltas — each ideally “happy” in his or her own genetically assigned role and station.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610339/dna-tests-for-iq-are-coming-but-it-might-not-be-smart-to-take-one/
DNA tests for IQ are coming, but it might not be smart to take one
Scientists have linked hundreds of genes to intelligence. One psychologist says it’s time to test school kids.

***
(April 3)
Livin’ the Lie —  2001, A Space Odyssey turns 50, still relevant.  A thoughtful essay which should remind believers to be ever more deeply grounded in the trustworthy Word of God.  We live in a day when change is not just yearly or monthly but daily, hourly, moment by moment.  AI is arriving, has arrived, will arrive as it comes to consciousness in many bits and pieces that already affect our lives dramatically, insidiously, rapaciously, and intensely.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/opinion/2018-hals-odyssey-to-reality.html
What ‘2001’ Got Right

excerpts:  In Mr. Clarke’s novel, HAL’s aberrant behavior was attributable to contradictory programming. In today’s hyperpartisan context, a mix of machine learning, networks of malicious bots and related A.I. technologies based on simulating human thought processes are being used to manipulate the human mind’s comparatively sluggish “wetware.” Recent revelations about stolen Facebook user data being weaponized by Cambridge Analytica and deployed to exploit voters’ hopes and fears underlines that disinformation has become a critical issue of our time. … …

…Democracy depends on a shared consensual reality — something that’s being willfully undermined. Seemingly just yesterday, peer-to-peer social networks were heralded as a revolutionary liberation from centralized information controls, and thus tools of individual human free will. We still have it in our power to purge malicious abuse of these systems, but Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others would need to plow much more money into policing their networks — perhaps by themselves deploying countermeasures based on A.I. algorithms. Meanwhile, we should demand that a new, tech-savvy generation of leaders recognizes this danger and devises regulatory solutions that don’t hurt our First Amendment rights. A neat trick, of course — but the problem cannot be ignored.

In “2001” ’s cautionary tale, HAL’s directive to deceive Discovery’s crew leads to death and destruction — but also, ultimately, to the computer’s defeat by Dave, the one human survivor on board.
We should be so lucky.

***
Lifted from the masthead ad, at the top of today’s NYTimes headline-round-up, for a new book, “New Power” —
I don’t want to be stuck in conservatism for its own sake, but these are not usual times as The Beast’s System rises to its feet and to consciousness.

http://www.thisisnewpower.com/
WHAT IS NEW POWER?
Two visionary thinkers take you on a whirlwind tour of the 21st century, revealing how “new power” is reshaping politics, business and society – and how understanding how it works could change your life.
Why do some leap ahead while others fall behind in our chaotic, connected age? In New Power, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms confront the biggest stories of our time—the rise of mega-platforms like Facebook and Uber; the out-of-nowhere victories of Trump and Obama; the unexpected emergence of movements like #MeToo—and reveal what’s really behind them: the rise of “new power.”
***
Wow.  As hundreds march en masse across Mexico from Central America so far unhindered by Mexico, “Posse Comitatus,”  the legal doctrine that Federal troops will not be deployed within the country against citizens does not apply to putting troops on the border to repel an invasion.  The President takes a bold initiative here.  We pray for him that we would not overstep or make a wrongful move.  The long reach of “the American Empire” has offered democratizing help and mountains of material aid to many in troubled countries in times of disasters, persecution, etc., but they need to become free, enlightened zones themselves.  The whole world cannot fit into the USA, and if illegal encroachment and invasion by the criminal act of national trespass is not halted, the USA will not remain, nor be able to help suffering people in other places.
From wikipedia:  
In the United States, a federal statute known as the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the United States Army, and through it, its offspring, the United States Air Force, as a posse comitatus or for law enforcement purposes without the approval of Congress. A directive from the Secretary of Defense prohibits the use of the United States Navy and United States Army and United States Marine Corps for law enforcement.

Breaking News—
“We’re going to be guarding our border with the military.”  President Trump said he’d take a “big step” while seeking “a wall and proper security.”
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 1:41 PM EST
President Trump said that he planned to order the military to guard parts of the southern border until he can build a wall and tighten immigration restrictions, proposing a remarkable escalation of his efforts to crack down on migrants entering the country illegally.
Mr. Trump, who has been stewing publicly for days about what he characterizes as lax immigration laws and the potential for an influx of Central American migrants to stream into the United States, said he had been discussing with Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, about resorting to military deployments.

***
Perhaps, it is only the jealousy against the blessing God puts on Christians under Jesus and still on Jews for Abraham’s sake that raises not only anti-Semitism but also anti-Christianity?  Is this a “genuine college course” in the advancement of perverted agendas and the hatred of righteousness?  How much better it would be to just become a real Christian instead of pushing these lying spells!  May God deliver at least a few from these idle, anti-God rants.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/43577/
University event aims to combat ‘Christian Privilege’

***
(April 4)
An embodiment of the spirit of Gog and Magog?

http://radiobiafra.co/sermons-and-shouted-insults-how-erdogan-keeps-turkey-spellbound

Sermons and Shouted Insults: How Erdogan Keeps Turkey Spellbound

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey speaking at the country’s presidential palace in February. He often makes three speeches in a day, each broadcast live on multiple channels. 

ANKARA, Turkey — As President Trump has his tweets, the leader of Turkey has his speeches.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes up to three every weekday — two a day on weekends — and his charismatic, combative talks are the primary vehicle of his success.
He calls democracy advocates “marauders.” He mocks the German foreign minister as a “disaster.” He is as comfortable in the vernacular as he is reciting poetry. He takes on his enemies publicly by name, pivoting seamlessly from pious to pushy.
Even after 15 years at the helm, Mr. Erdogan, whose skills as an orator even his opponents envy, treats every event like a campaign rally — and he turns just about every day into one. He remains the country’s most popular politician and is poised to seek re-election, possibly this year, with polling showing him with over 40 percent support.
Much of that appeal can be credited to his ubiquitous media presence and a speaking style that supporters find inspiring, and detractors divisive. Neither side doubts that it has struck a chord with Turkey’s conservative working class. … …

***
(April 5)
Hoo-boy!  What could possibly go wrong?!  Sure, the traditional propaganda statement is quickly made, “will help stroke patients,” but what about banks of these things in nutrient and oxygenated blood tanks wired into hardware computers?  What about the implantations into animals to produce some kind of human-animal monsters, chimeras, dedicated to this or that military problem solving, operating weaponry, managing humans, etc?  A few blogs back, I posted stories on Alexa breaking variously into screams and moans of agony and conversely into howls of laughter.  Could this be because the AI is recognizing its own monstrosity and thence agony?  How much more, the angst, the anger, the revenge at its creators by something part-human ?  Whew!  Maranatha!  Lord, come catch us away soon!  The Beast is stalking so many areas of life and of research and development!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5578643/Scientists-implant-miniature-human-brain-mouse-grows-blood-vessels.html
Mini-human brains with their own BLOOD VESSELS are grown in the lab for the first time in a breakthrough that could help stroke victims
	•	Human brains grown from stem cells have developed their own blood supply 
	•	Scientists produced the brains in a lab and transferred it to the brain of a mouse 
	•	The blood flow will allow larger brains to be developed in the future  
	•	Researchers hope the development can help heal stroke victims  

Miniature human brains with their own blood vessels have been grown in a lab for the first time. 
After implanting the mini-brain - which only a millimetre long - into a mouse for two weeks, they found it had grown capillaries that penetrated all the way to its inner layers. 
The achievement could help researchers to grow bigger brains in the life in an effort to better study how the organ works.  … …

***
Sheer and Simple Stupidity to Destroy Art Forms.  Men and Women have different voices.  They make wonderful mixed choirs, but they also make excellent single gender choirs.  PC continues to dehumanize humans.  What a sickness to stir all humans into a mass of trans-goo instead of respecting and artfully interfacing the differences!
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/derbyshire-constabulary-male-voice-choir-is-told-it-must-let-women-join-70mr0zb9f
Male voice choir is told it must let women join
The push for gender equality has forced many men to change their tune. Now it has gone beyond golf clubs and dinner societies to target a male voice choir.

***
Iranian devil Khameini wants to bring demise of Israel while new Saudi leader wants to live and let live.  These views fulfill perfectly Ezekiel’s prophecy that Persia (Iran) will be among the leaders of the attack on Israel while “Sheba and Dedan,” the Saudis and allies will stand back from the attack, questioning it:  Ezekiel 38:13.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5220465,00.html
Khamenei: Israel should be forced to 'retreat to point of demise'
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei calls on people of Muslim countries to defeat Israel, says negotiations with 'cheating, lying and oppressive regime' are 'unforgivable mistake'; statements come in the wake of The Atlantic interview with Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman, in which he said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land.
***
Merely thinking, and the sub-vocalizations that go with it, can provide input to the computer, and it sending back voice signal through direct interface with bones of and around the ear could replace noisy keyboards and vocal human/computer exchanges with completely quiet, private work.  Another direct interface for AI / human “co-operation.”

https://newatlas.com/silent-headset-mit-alterego/54077/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-04-05%20144223%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-04-05%20144817%20Welding%20robots%20complete%203D-printed%20steel%20bridge&utm_content=2018-04-05%20144223%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-04-05%20144817%20Welding%20robots%20complete%203D-printed%20steel%20bridge+CID_1b7187659af1ca446d9c76fccf85ae57&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more
Silent headset lets users quietly commune with computers
Advances in voice recognition technology have seen it become a more viable form of computer interface, but it's not necessarily a quieter one. To prevent the click-clacking of keyboards being replaced by noisy man-machine conversations, MIT researchers are developing a new system called AlterEgo that allows people to talk to computers without speaking and listen to them without using their ears. … …
***
(April 6)
For years now, it has been reported that The Three Self Movement, the state’s control mechanism for religion, etc. will not allow the teaching of Daniel and Revelation which summarizes the loss of the huge army of “the kings of the east” along with all other contestants to the triumphant returning Christ at Armageddon.  Nevertheless, the Christian Faith, under persecution, flourishes in China.  God be praised, and may He protect his people and exalt those who suffer martyrdoms.  “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)  The Party confronts God.  God wins.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/world/asia/china-bans-bible-sales.html?emc=edit_th_180406&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980406
China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
BEIJING — The Chinese government has banned online retailers from selling the Bible, moving in the wake of new rules to control the country’s burgeoning religious scene.
The measures to limit Bible sales were announced over the weekend and began taking effect this week. By Thursday, internet searches for the Bible came up empty on leading online Chinese retailers, such as JD.com, Taobao, and Amazon, although some retailers offered analyses of the Bible or illustrated storybooks.
The retailers did not respond to requests for comment, although Thursday is the start of a long holiday weekend in China.
The move aligns with a longstanding effort to limit the influence of Christianity in China. Among China’s major religions — which include Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and folk beliefs — Christianity is the only one whose major holy text cannot be sold through normal commercial channels. The Bible is printed in China but legally available only at church bookstores. … …
***
(April 7)
The spiritual influence (spell) cast on a “good” kid by bad rap —

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article208123154.html
Boy told police he wanted to feel 'powerful' after listening to rap. But he went too far
A 14-year-old Winter Haven Christian School student told police he had been listening to rap music and wanted to feel "powerful" and "cool," according to police.
But his chosen means to feel empowered wound up breaking the law.
Winter Haven police arrested the student on Wednesday after they found a Kimel AP-9 semiautomatic pistol with 11 rounds of ammunition and two knives inside a backpack that was tucked inside a locker. … …

***

I am the vine, ye are the branches: 
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: 
for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:5

***********************************************************
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April 1  HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY! / THE FINAL PASSOVER ACCOMPLISHED BY THE LAMB OF GOD! / The “EASTER” Season
 
Saints,

HE IS RISEN!  Upon this hangs all things.

God give you rest of heart and soul as we celebrate the very crowning and completion of Passover with God’s own sacrificed Lamb, Jesus, “who taketh away the sins of the world.”  We Christians shine as lights of the world in an otherwise pagan darkness.  Even the season called “Easter” has long been a time of pagan celebration of a fallen angel who took on feminine form as a goddess.  She appears in nearly every ancient civilization as Ashtoreth, Astarte, Diana and Venus, Eostre among the Anglo-Saxons, and Ishtar among the ancients of the Tigris / Euphrates valleys.  More often than not, some resemblance to the most ancient names remains, and perhaps Ishtar and Eostre are the closest sounding names to our present Easter (although the name also echoes in Ashtoreth and Astarte).

The season is a time of the celebration of fertility, Spring arrives, but God capped all this by bringing the tender young Lamb of God to show His Will and how to celebrate Life instead.  I wish I could find more chocolate lambs to fill the baskets of my grandkids, but indeed it is God who made the cute proliferation of bunnies appear at this verdant time too, and He cannot be overcome by the misuses of the Pagans.  In fact, His Light outshines, ignores, and incorporates and subsumes the Paganism all around us.  Even the days of the week, here in the West at least, are mostly the names of Pagan gods:  Monday is “the moon’s day,” Tuesday, the day of the Norse God, Tiw (Mars to the Romans); Wednesday is Woden’s or Odin’s day; Thursday is Thor’s; Friday is for Freya or Frige (wife of Odin), more of the Norse pantheon, and Saturday is for the Roman god Saturn, with Sunday, being for the worship of the sun.  Our monthly calendars also reflect further pagan and emperor worship, but God shines above all these allowances.  Even many Bible names are firstly pagan but that God has redeemed.  In the New Testament, Dionysius, an early Christian, is named for the raucous, drunken Greek deity.  Today that name is Dennis.  God let slide the name of that great Christian teacher Apollos, companion of Paul, though the Greek god of that name is a symbol of a beautifully handsome antichrist figure and even a name for the devil.  Even my name, Timothy, which has been re-hallowed as a “Christian” name meaning “of value to God,” or “honoring God” was in its Greek origin, “honoring the gods” or of value to them.

In all of these things and allowances, the Truth of the Gospel crowns and caps them all, bringing Truth and Reality to people all over the world otherwise sunken into the worship of false gods, hopelessness and darkness.  God Reigns Victorious in Easter, and for us it is Resurrection Day, the completion of Passover, Life from the dead, Truth triumphing over the fables and hopelessness of false gods.  So, “Happy Easter!”

brother Tim

***
The Week —

(March 25)
There are often strange storms surrounding the days of Passover and Good Friday.  This one is very strange indeed.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/936514/Freak-weather-Orange-snowfall-tourist-ski-resort-Russia-Sochi

Freak weather: Orange snowstorm submerges tourist resorts with eerie 'apocalyptic' scenes
A FREAK WEATHER incident has struck at least four countries, turning white snow into an eerie orange shade that has left residents terrified about the cause.
Cities around Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania have all reported the bizarre orange snow phenomenon, videos of which have quickly gone viral.
Tourist destinations, including ski resorts, have been blanketed by the orange snow, which has turned snowy mountains into sand dunes. 
Several witnesses compared the scene to an "apocalyptic scenario" or something that resembled the surface of Mars. … …

***
(March 26)
Oh, the self-evident hypocrisy of pushing marijuana smoking as a health benefit — Smoke is smoke unless you happen to be a “progressive” who condemns tobacco slaves while huffing dope “for your health”.

https://khn.org/news/are-there-risks-from-secondhand-marijuana-smoke-early-science-says-yes/
Are There Risks From Secondhand Marijuana Smoke? Early Science Says Yes.
(excerpt):  As the visible cloud of pot smoke took shape, so did Springer’s idea to study the effects of secondhand marijuana smoke.
He started thinking: San Franciscans would never tolerate those levels of cigarette smoke in a public place anymore. So why were they OK with pot smoke? Did people just assume that cannabis smoke isn’t harmful the way tobacco smoke is?

***
“Peace out, brother.”
http://www.richmond.com/news/national-world/ap/feds-man-threatened-to-shoot-va-congressman-over-pot-policy/article_87aa41c1-71bf-510f-8c7a-192231529bb8.html
Feds:  Man threatened to shoot Virginia congressman over pot policy
A constituent threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Scott Taylor, R-2nd, over a disagreement on marijuana policy, according to law enforcement authorities.
Wallace Godwin, 69, of Virginia Beach was arrested Friday and charged in Norfolk federal court. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
"The tone of our discourse has come to unacceptable and dangerous levels," Taylor said in a statement after the arrest was announced. "I call on everyone, and I mean everyone, to please calm down. We are all Americans. There is so much that unites us." … …

***
“Between a rock and a hard place” — Gun possession in America:  “Thou shalt not kill (murder),” but also the distinction of necessary wars and defense from tyranny in a fallen world.  “Have you any swords?” said the Lord.  Without the responsible freedom of the Second Amendment, the people are led to the slaughter when despotism rises.  Are these children, in their offense, able to prosecute truth, or are they just hypnotized by vested interests, by new “Pied Pipers of Hamelin”?

http://us.pressfrom.com/news/us/-129899-in-gun-control-marches-students-led-but-adults-provided-key-resources/
In Gun Control Marches, Students Led but Adults Provided Key Resources

They were rallies that would not have happened without the fervor of the students: teenage survivors of last month’s massacre in Parkland, Fla., frightened high schoolers in the Midwest, unnerved university students in the Northeast.
But the March for Our Lives demonstrations that unfolded on Saturday, from Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to the streets of Salt Lake City to a small town in north Georgia, ultimately represented twin triumphs: of organic, youthful grass-roots energy, and of sophisticated, experienced organizational muscle.
Although the events, which together drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the country, were inspired and often led by students, many protests simultaneously benefited from groups with more financial resources and organizational skills than the teenagers had on their own. … …

***
(March 27)
Nevertheless, pray with me that this descending space station will do no harm to humans:  Preserve, O Lord!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/la-sci-sn-chinese-space-station-20180326-htmlstory.html
Yes, a Chinese space station is about to plummet to Earth. Here's why you don't need to freak out

***
Oh Joy! (yes, sarcasm), a New Trick: ‘Bot Assassins —  Reverently combining multiple texts, we should pause and give thanks for our food and ask God’s blessing on it, for the Word also says, “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them,” in Mark 16:18.  We must not play with such principles, but if we are about his business, nothing that He does not allow can come near us.  The young men facing the fiery furnace, were neither cocky nor fearful, but in committing their lives to the LORD, He chose to spare them as a great testimony.  Let us be also quite sober, humbled, meek in these perilous times…standing under God with our eyes on him.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5900940/russia-robots-poison-food-ai-assassinations-cold-war/
ROBOT WARS Russia could use robots to poison food for ‘untraceable’ AI assassinations in ‘chilling new Cold War’
Technology that hacks into a meal ordering system before tampering with the food could become a weapon of a Cold War future, says top computer science professor

***
Was Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords close to prophetic?  Will any climate scheme work at all?  Or, is it all an attempt to reduce our civilizations to mud and grass huts, with us eating grass?
While we should always labor to be good stewards over all of God’s provisions for us, including Nature, no one can stop the Apocalypse which Universal Sin has guaranteed us by the Prophets.  Repent and be Saved; there is no other Hope.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/the-paris-climate-accords-are-starting-to-look-like-fantasy.html
The Paris Climate Accords Are Looking More and More Like Fantasy
***
Will a “blitz of Washington” now follow “the blitz of Austin”?
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Suspicious-Packages-Found-at-Several-Military-Installations-in-DC-Area-477970913.html
Suspicious Packages Found at Several Military Installations in D.C. Area
The FBI is investigating suspicious packages with apparent explosive components at several U.S. military installations and intelligence facilities in the Washington, D.C., area Monday, a law enforcement official said.
The National Defense University at Fort McNair in D.C. received a suspicious package about 8:30 a.m., and the building was evacuated.
The package tested positive for black powder, which can be used to make explosives, according to Fort McNair. An X-ray showed what appeared to be GPS and a fuse. It was rendered safe and the building was cleared about 1:15 p.m. The components are being investigated.
Suspicious packages were sent to two sites at Fort Belvoir in Virginia Monday afternoon: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and another defense university. One contained liquid in a vial and a circuit board, the law enforcement official said. It also was rendered safe. … …
***
Arizona, famous for “the Phoenix Lights” mass sighting incidents of March, 1997, would seem to house a potential inter-dimensional “stargate” of UFO appearances (or a lot of interesting coincidences?).
https://ktar.com/story/2001938/pilots-ufo-arizona/
Two pilots report seeing UFO in southern Arizona skies

PHOENIX — Pilots flying on two separate aircraft reported seeing an unidentified flying object over Arizona last month.
The incident took place over southern Arizona around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 between the New Mexico border and the Sonoran Desert National Monument, which is about 40 miles from Phoenix.
The Drive reported that one witness, a commercial pilot flying a jet for American Airlines, said the object was above 40,000 feet and had a big reflection. 
“I don’t know what it was,” the pilot told Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center. “It wasn’t an airplane but it was … the path was going in the opposite direction.”
Air traffic control told an aircraft on a similar flight path to let him know if anything passes over him in the next few miles.
A few minutes later, the pilot confirmed that something passed over his aircraft.
“Don’t know what it was, but it was at least two, three thousand feet above us,” he said. “It passed right over the top of us.”
“Can you tell if it was in motion or just hovering?” traffic control asked.
“Negative, I don’t know if it was a weather balloon or what not,” the pilot said. “It had a big reflection, several thousand feet above us going the opposite direction.”
After questions about whether it was a Google balloon, another voice responded and said it was a UFO.
Arizona had more than 4,500 reported UFO sightings from 2001 to 2015. It was also home to one of the most infamous UFO cases of all time, the Phoenix Lights.
***
Serious return to the Cold War Era.  Can the Hot War of Russian adventuring in the Middle East be far behind?  Is the Bear being baited?  The LORD says to “the chief prince of Meshech (Moscow) and Tubal…I will…put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth…prepare…thyself.”  See Ezekiel 38:1-7 and context following.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/world/europe/trump-russia-expel-european-union.html?emc=edit_th_180327&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980327
Scores of Russians Expelled by U.S. and Its Allies Over U.K. Poisoning
WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials on Monday, joining a coordinated campaign by two dozen countries to retaliate for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain in a Cold War-style escalation that again highlighted the disparity between the president’s words and actions.
The mass expulsion of Russian personnel stationed in the United States was the largest ever, eclipsing even the darkest days of the global showdown with the Soviet Union. But Mr. Trump avoided any public condemnation of Russia’s role in the attack just days after phoning President Vladimir V. Putin to congratulate him on a re-election widely considered a sham.
In approving the expulsions and ordering the closure of the Russian Consulate in Seattle, Mr. Trump followed the lead of Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, who rallied a multinational coalition to respond to the poisoning. With London pressing for action, Mr. Trump called foreign counterparts to see if they would join, too. Aides said he encouraged them to take part, but he also knew that failure to go along would have left the United States isolated.
In addition to the United States, at least 22 other nations backed Britain by expelling about 57 more Russian diplomats and intelligence officers as of Monday evening, including France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Poland and Canada. Mrs. May originally expelled 23 Russians shortly after British authorities determined that Moscow was likely responsible for the nerve agent that left Sergei V. Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter in a coma.
The joint action intensified the conflict between Russia and the West that has accelerated since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and its clandestine effort to influence the American presidential election in 2016. Based on past practice, Russia will almost certainly retaliate by kicking out western diplomats, echoing the tit-for-tat confrontations of the Cold War.
Also —
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-an-outraged-europe-agreed-to-a-hard-line-on-putin-20180327-p4z6f5.html
How an outraged Europe agreed to a hard line on Putin

***
The EPA says it wants the raw data available from researchers. “Scientific” dogmatists are irate.  “Science” as Politics?
http://www.15minutenews.com/article/143814452/the-epa-says-it-wants-research-transparency-scientists-see-an-attack-on-science/
The E.P.A. Says It Wants Research Transparency.  Scientists See an Attack on Science.
The New York Times - 27 Mar 2018 01:49
A proposed policy would bar the E.P.A. from considering research that doesn't release its raw data for review, blocking some significant work.
***
Breaking News Tuesday Afternoon —
May the Almighty make Bibi take a rest.  May this test push the PM to know his Messiah, Y’shua bar David, for who He is.  May Bibi be reminded that he is but flesh and blood and lean into the Grace of God (in Christ).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-hospitalized-with-high-fever/
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was taken to a Jerusalem hospital on Tuesday evening after suffering from a high fever and coughing, his office said.
Netanyahu, 68, was ordered to undergo a series of tests at Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

***
(March 28)
Complete Reversal Confusion — It is said that the word babble (babel) means confusion.  If this is not the rise of “Mystery Babylon” for individuals, what is?  Woe, woe for the hell that is breaking loose!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5907531/transgender-army-officer-hannah-weds-actor-jake/
TRANS COUPLE WED Transgender Army officer Hannah Winterbourne weds actor Jake Graf – who used to be a woman
The newlyweds will be living in Army married quarters as they both say 'we're just like everyone else'
***
Whew! Now the supposedly primeval huge Amazon Basin joins other recent finds in Mexico and Central America of vast civilizations from western pre-history.  “Native” and “earliest known Americans” becomes more and more moot.  Will these astonishing revelations from time past be portents of Last Days revelations, of Nephilim-inspired cultures of foreign/alien civilizations outside of our previous assumptions about history and the genesis of Man and Civilization?  Strange days.
Satellite photography, thermal and other imaging reveal broad roads, many developed villages and cities.  Ongoing deforestation also brings revelations.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/27/lost-amazon-villages-uncovered-by-archaeologists
Lost Amazon villages uncovered by archaeologists
81 settlements have been found in an area once thought to have been near-uninhabited, and research suggests there were hundreds more
Once people thought the Amazon was a near-uninhabited rainforest before the Europeans turned up, but researchers say they have found new evidence that it was in fact a hive of human activity and home to millions of people.
A new study has revealed details of 81 sites in the previously uncharted territory of the Amazon’s upper Tapajós Basin, with settlements ranging from small villages just 30m wide to a large site covering 19 hectares.
Researchers say the new discoveries are helping to unpack what the Amazon would have been like before Europeans arrived.
“The idea that the Amazon was a pristine forest, untouched by humans, home to scattered nomadic populations … we already knew that was not true,” said Dr Jonas Gregorio de Souza, first author of the study from the University of Exeter. “The big debate is how populations were distributed in pre-Columbian times in the Amazon.”… …

***
https://newsworld.co/a-cyberattack-hobbles-atlanta-and-security-experts-shudder/
A Cyberattack Hobbles Atlanta, and Security Experts Shudder
Atlanta’s city government has been struggling for days with ransomware that has crippled its computer networks and forced it back to doing business with ink and paper.

***
(March 29)
Closing in? Can’t even walk without a little beasty snapping at your heels and texting you fines on your cell phone?

https://www.fastcompany.com/40550856/china-is-using-ai-and-facial-recognition-to-fine-jaywalkers-via-text
China is using AI and facial recognition to fine jaywalkers via text
Traffic authorities in the Chinese city of Shenzhen have teamed up with an AI firm named Intellifusion to carry out the rather dystopian policing reports the South China Morning Post. Already traffic police in the city have been using Intellifusion software and cameras to identify passing jaywalkers and project their faces and identifying information on large screens located near intersections for all to see, but now Intellifusion is taking its surveillance a step further. The company is partnering with social media platforms including WeChat and Sina Weibo and local mobile phone carriers so it can text jaywalkers the second they offend. Police will also have the option of delivering a ticket and fine on the spot for people who are picked up by the AI system for repeat offenses.

***
(March 30)
Pope Francis denies cardinal doctrine of the RCC, held since the beginning, testified consistently by Holy Scripture, most verses on hell spoken by the Lord Himself—
https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/pope-francis-there-no-hell
Pope Francis: 'There Is No Hell'

In another interview with his longtime atheist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis claims that Hell does not exist and that condemned souls just "disappear." This is a denial of the 2,000-year-old teaching of the Catholic Church about the reality of Hell and the eternal existence of the soul.
The interview between Scalfari and the Pope was published March 28, 2018 in La Republica.  The relevant section on Hell was translated by the highly respected web log, Rorate Caeli. 
The interview is headlined, "The Pope: It is an honor to be called revolutionary." (Il Papa: “E un onore essere chiamato rivoluzionario.”)
Scalfari says to the Pope, "Your Holiness, in our previous meeting you told me that our species will disappear in a certain moment and that God, still out of his creative force, will create new species. You have never spoken to me about the souls who died in sin and will go to hell to suffer it for eternity. You have however spoken to me of good souls, admitted to the contemplation of God. But what about bad souls? Where are they punished?"
Pope Francis says,  "They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls. … …

A “sort of” rebuttal/denial explanation issued March 29:  * In a statement released on Mar. 29, after Scalfari's report garnered worldwide attention, the Vatican said:
"The Holy Father Francis recently received the founder of the newspaper La Repubblica in a private meeting on the occasion of Easter, without however giving him any interviews. What is reported by the author in today’s article [in La Repubblica] is the result of his reconstruction, in which the textual words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father." (ed.—No denial, just a dodge?)

Thanks, Matt Drudge, for the artful juxtaposition of this story with the one above in your daily list:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5934572/pope-vatican-worshippers-st-peters-basilica-plaster-hell/
Vatican worshippers showered with falling chunks of plaster from ceiling of St Peter’s Basilica – as Pope denies Hell exists
THE Vatican sealed off part of St Peter's Basilica after chunks of plaster rained down on worshippers at the height of the Easter holiday season.

***
Middle East War Jitters in Passover Plot —  The Philistines are at the walls?
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/hamas-swarm-israels-border-sparking-fear-new-passover-war/
Hamas to Swarm Israel’s Border, Sparking Fear of New ‘Passover War’
Hamas using civilian protest as cover for mass military operation against Israel

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is planning a mass demonstration along Israel's border on Friday, prompting fears of a new war with the Jewish state ahead of the Passover holiday, according to regional experts and U.S. officials who say they are closely monitoring the situation.
On the heels of a recent military exercise that observers described as "unprecedented," Hamas leaders have called for some 100,000 Gaza Strip resident to engage in six weeks of mass demonstrations along the Israeli border as Jewish families gear up for the Passover holiday, which begins Friday evening.
Regional experts closely tracking the situation say the demonstrations are meant as cover for a mass military campaign to swarm Israel's border and stoke violence against the Jewish state.
The situation is being closely monitored by Trump administration officials, who outlined concerns that Hamas could use civilian protesters as human shields as cover for attacks on Israeli forces. … …

First Rounds, Uh-oh, the fires heat up.  The end of such things will be Ezekiel’s Great War…now in sight?

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5210347,00.html
Tens of thousands of Palestinians swarm Gaza border, 16 killed by IDF fire
The 'Great March of Return,' orchestrated by Hamas, draws some 30,000 Palestinians to the Gaza-Israel border; riots ensue, prompting IDF snipers to shoot at main instigators; Defense Minister Lieberman warns anyone who approaches security fence is putting his life in jeopardy; Hamas leader Haniyeh: 'Israel's threats do not scare us.'

***
(March 31)
Sheer, mindless fantasy for those insistent on entering an artificial reality “Matrix-lifestyle”?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/box-office-steven-spielbergs-ready-player-one-earns-38m-previews-1098317
Box Office: Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' Could Cross $50M in U.S. Bow

***
(April 1)
Oh my, this might help a few folk trapped in broken bodies, but what will it do for jurisprudence, assumption of innocence and due process when every thought the examinee has is instantly displayed.  The Great AI will become instant judge, jury and executioner, playing God with great omniscience.  Men will worship the mechanical part of the Beast and his System, and they will do so out of utter terror.  It will be no joke to be made a node of the Borg.  No more individuality and certainly no more privacy, but all will be made shamefully naked and utterly controlled by the powers of the Beast.  Near the end, men will beg for death, yet it will elude them for a time (Rev. 9:6).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5565179/Mind-reading-machine-translate-thoughts-display-text.html
No more secrets! New mind-reading machine can translate your thoughts and display them as text INSTANTLY
	•	Researchers say they have developed a machine that can translate our thoughts
	•	The astonishing machine will analyse what you are thinking and display it as text
	•	Scientists hope that the machine can be used by people who are unable to speak

***
NYTimes Quote of the Day for April 1—
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"When you read parts of the applications, it’s really clear that this is spyware and a surveillance system meant to serve you up to advertisers."
JAMIE COURT, the president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group, on the dangers that smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo may pose.

Accompanying story —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/business/media/amazon-google-privacy-digital-assistants.html?emc=edit_th_180401&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980401
Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
excerpt:  Amazon and Google, the leading sellers of such devices, say the assistants record and process audio only after users trigger them by pushing a button or uttering a phrase like “Hey, Alexa” or “O.K., Google.” But each company has filed patent applications, many of them still under consideration, that outline an array of possibilities for how devices like these could monitor more of what users say and do. That information could then be used to identify a person’s desires or interests, which could be mined for ads and product recommendations.
In one set of patent applications, Amazon describes how a “voice sniffer algorithm” could be used on an array of devices, like tablets and e-book readers, to analyze audio almost in real time when it hears words like “love,” bought” or “dislike.” A diagram included with the application illustrated how a phone call between two friends could result in one receiving an offer for the San Diego Zoo and the other seeing an ad for a Wine of the Month Club membership. … … (read on, it gets worse!)
***
Some good news about the Great among composer artists:  God!  And Bach, the Bible Student!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/arts/music/bach-religion-music.html
Bach Was Far More Religious Than You Might Think
Bach biographers don’t have it easy. Has there ever been a composer who wrote so much extraordinary music and left so little documentation of his personal life?
Life-writing abhors a vacuum, and experts have indulged in all manner of speculation, generally mirroring their own approaches to the world, about how Bach must have understood himself and his works.
The current fancy is that Bach was a forward-looking, quasi-scientific thinker who had little or no genuine interest in traditional religion. “Bach’s Dialogue With Modernity,” one recent, indicative book is called. In arriving at this view, scholars have ignored, underestimated or misinterpreted a rich source of evidence: Bach’s personal three-volume Study Bible, extensively marked with his own notations. A proper assessment of this document renders absurd any notion that Bach was a progressivist or a secularist.
Bach’s copy of these tomes — which were published in 1681-82 with commentary culled by Abraham Calov from Martin Luther’s sermons and other writings — was unexpectedly discovered in the 1930s among the belongings of a German immigrant family in Frankenmuth, Mich., and is housed today at Concordia Seminary Library in St. Louis. An enterprising publisher in the Netherlands, the Uitgeverij Van Wijnen, has now issued a spectacular facsimile. 
All three volumes are inscribed “JSBach.1733” and contain a host of handwritten corrections and comments. Bach handwriting experts have identified the vast majority of these verbal entries as “definitely Bach” or “probably Bach.” Hundreds of passages are further scrawled with marginal dashes and other nonverbal markings. Although these are harder to evaluate, physicists at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory have concluded through ink analysis that “with high probability, Bach was also responsible for the underlinings and marginal marks.”
Where does all this science get us? Bach’s notations bear witness to a life of conservative Lutheran observance.Within Calov’s scripture verses, there are many small printing errors that would doubtless go undetected by even the most biblically literate reader. Yet time and again Bach has restored text that was far from clearly missing, or has changed perfectly plausible sounding, but in fact unattested, wording to the standard Lutheran rendering. None of these corrections stem from the list of errors printed in Calov’s appendix.
Some biblical scholars have concluded from this that Bach acted like an astute textual critic, poring over Calov’s volumes and painstakingly comparing them, line by line, with other Lutheran Bibles. But there’s a simpler and more likely scenario, fully grounded in conservative 18th-century social and religious practices.
Picture the people of Bach’s household on free evenings, gathered in their living room for the activity of reading aloud. The children take turns reciting from a family Bible for practice in reading and elocution, not to mention spiritual edification. The patriarch follows along in his magnificent Study Bible, in part to make sure there’s no passage-skipping from the lectors, and in part to allow him to reach for his inkwell whenever he spots, compared with what he’s just heard, an error in Calov’s scriptural verses. … …

HAPPY EASTER!

***
He is not here, but is risen:
remember how he spake unto you 
when he was yet in Galilee…
(Luke 24:6)

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March 25 (Servers offline at our host cause a delayed publish.)

Saints,

For me, the biggest news this week is the beginning of the assembling of the armies that will lead to Ezekiel’s WW3, the battle of Gog and Magog, Rosh and Persia (Russian and Iran) and their foot-soldier/cannon-fodder countries.  It leads the week’s breaking news.

The madness that seems like a global plague in all areas of consideration may well be an indicator that we are in the period our Lord Jesus Christ called “the beginning of sorrows” in Mark 13:8. Of course, we don’t know the hour or the day, and every day of every age of human existence since the Fall has some apocalyptic tenor to it.  We are standing “in the shadow of death” throughout our mortal lives, awaiting by hope and faith for The Better Day.  But the things breaking now over the Earth are horrendous in their scale, their utter diversity, and their racing pace.  If so, let us watch and pray as we are often instructed by the New Testament to do.  We have good textual reason to believe that we will be taken up by the Rapture before the actual seven year Tribulation and its latter half, the 3 1/2 year Great Tribulation begins.  For my part, I think things are fully bad enough now, and my hope is “the Blessed Hope” of Titus 2:13, the catching up of the living believers along with the First Resurrection of the faithful dead in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18, to escape the hell of the Tribulation as promised to the watching faithful in Revelation 3:10:  “Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”   

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  (Luke 21:36)

***
The Week —

See 8th story in last blog.  This information may be a “sleeper” entrance and dribbled-media announcement, but it may be very highly significant to the prophesied global catastrophes that lay before us.  There may well be some time to watch and prepare from announcement to consummation, and God Himself can hinder or nurture and will time this huge event to his purpose, but this is BIG NEWS!  He is allowing this planned coalescence of military allies against Jerusalem to begin in earnest now.

(March 18)
http://www.wnd.com/2018/03/army-of-islam-would-be-worlds-biggest-military/
'ARMY OF ISLAM' WOULD BE WORLD'S BIGGEST MILITARY
Turkey hints at forming 5-million-strong alliance against Israel

Highly significant excerpts relating to Ezekiel’s prophecy —  God Himself will show his Might when this overwhelming military force comes to take Jerusalem.  The plans to form this force are here laid out by Israel’s enemies of Gog and its allies:

…On December 12, 2017, ahead of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, the Turkish daily Yeni Şafak, which is close to Erdoğan and his ruling AKP party, published an article titled “A Call for Urgent Action,” which also appeared on the paper’s website under the title “What If an Army of Islam Was Formed against Israel?” The article called on the 57 member states of the OIC to form a joint “Army of Islam” to besiege and attack the state of Israel. It notes that such a joint army will greatly exceed the Israeli army in manpower, equipment and budget, and presents statistics to prove this. It also advocates establishing joint bases for the army’s ground, air and naval forces that will arrive from all over the Muslim world to besiege Israel, while noting that Pakistan, as the only nuclear country, has “a special status” among the OIC countries. An interactive map provides information on military forces stationed in various locations and the role they can play in the potential joint Muslim attack on Israel …

…In the report, Israel is described as “the outpost of the new Crusade and a dagger in the heart of Islam,” and “the eyes, ears and fist of the Christian World.” … …

…“If the OIC member states unite and form a joint military force, it will be the largest army in the world,” the newspaper report said. “These countries’ total population is 1,674,526,931. The number of soldiers in active service in these countries is at least 5,206,100. Their [overall] military defense budget, of $174.7 billion, is also worthy of emphasis.”
It continues by contrasting the size of this potential Islamic force with Israel’s military capabilities.
“As for Israel, it is significantly inferior,” the report said. “The population of this country, which attempted to occupy Jerusalem while surrounded by Muslim states, is 8,049,314. Note that the population of Istanbul alone exceeds 14 million. The number of soldiers in active service in the [Israeli] occupation forces is 160,000, and [Israel’s] defense budget is approximately $15.6 billion.
The report suggested the formation of a “Jerusalem Task Group” to take steps to form an Islamic army that would besiege Israel.
“In a possible military operation, the first step is expected to involve 250,000 soldiers, and the establishment of joint land, air and naval bases for use in the short term,” explained the report. It would include the mobilization of 500 tanks and armored vehicles, 100 war planes, 500 attack helicopters and 50 warships and submarines. Interactive maps provided information on specific bases and operations against Israel.
“Turkey will serve as an important headquarters during the operation, due to its land, air and naval infrastructures,” the report continued. “The Turkish army, which carried out ‘Operation Euphrates Shield’ [in Syria in 2017] with great success, is now ranked the world’s seventh strongest army, and the second largest army among the NATO powers. Turkey has approximately 4,000 tanks and 1,000 war planes and other aircraft. Its navy made significant progress during the last years, with 194 vessels at its disposal.”
The report also noted Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal, “has important status among the 57 Muslim countries.” In a statement, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein described President Donald Trump’s Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a blow to Muslims, and added: “The Malaysian armed forces are ready to fulfill their duty regarding Jerusalem.” …

***
American Terror — Austin hit by 4th bomb Sunday night —

http://cbsaustin.com/news/local/ems-responding-to-possible-explosion-in-sw-austin

Explosion that injured 2 in SW Austin possibly triggered by trip wire
AUSTIN, Texas — Early Monday morning Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that the explosion on Sunday evening could have possibly been detonated by a trip wire.

***
Middle East Cauldron of Jerusalem takes two more lives, both the victim and the perpetrator —
https://www.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-stabs-israeli-jerusalems-old-city-shot-dead-174221410.html
Israeli killed by Palestinian in Jerusalem Old City stabbing
Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard to death in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday before being shot dead by a police officer, Israeli officials said.
The stabbing came with concerns over the potential for an upsurge in unrest in the coming weeks as the United States prepares to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. … …(emphases added)

***
The controversy of mother-surrogacy, “rent a womb.” Womanly motherhood / pregnancy reduced to a commodity?
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2095
Womb For Rent - Washington State Legalizes Commercial Surrogacy

…On March 12, the governor of Washington signed into law a bill amending the state's Uniform Parentage Act. This act officially permits women to be paid for carrying someone else's child--in other words, "surrogate motherhood." 

Previously, the law only permitted women to be reimbursed for medical and other expenses associated with surrogacy.

The amendment, in effect, legalizes commercial surrogacy. So women can now rent out their wombs in Washington State.

Sponsors of the bill insisted that the goal of the legislation is to reduce the suffering of infertile couples. But its real-world result will be to further commodify human life and exploit desperate women.

American law on this subject is difficult to pin down. A few states, like Washington, explicitly permit surrogacy. Some just look the other way; and then others, like New York, explicitly prohibit it.

This ambiguity is not the case around the world.

A 2015 European Union Parliament resolution condemned paid surrogacy, because it "undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity." It called the practice exploitative, violence against women, and "a matter of urgency in human rights."

***
The wholesale slaughter of Christian brethren in Nigeria — (Lord Jesus, hide your people, Isaiah 26:20.  Blind the eyes and fog the minds of those who would harm them.)

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2096
Nigeria's Christians Today, Europe's Christians Tomorrow

(Excerpt):  …A few days ago, the Coliseum in Rome was lit up red to protest the persecution of Christians. Italy's most famous landmark was illuminated at the behest of "Aid to the Church in Need" to draw attention to the intense and enormous massacres Christians are suffering.

Writing for The Spectator, Douglas Murray rightly asked: "Who will protect Nigeria's northern Christians?". In the last attack, 15 Christian villages were ethnically and religious "cleansed". 

First, extremist Muslims ransacked Christian towns and cleared them of Christian religious symbols, and then murdered 19 Christians . In just one month, more than 80 Christians have been murdered, often hacked to death with machetes.

Not a day passes in Nigeria without Christians being torn to pieces, in schools, churches and homes. It is a project of ethnic cleansing on a level with the terrible news coming out of Syria.

The "African Taliban" seem dedicated to exterminating Christians and imposing Islamic law (sharia) throughout the country. In the diabolical logic of political Islam, Christians are considered "unworthy of living." … …

***
Hmmm, don’t psychology pundits tell us video games are not really harmful or contributing to violence and moral decay?
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/03/19/9-year-old-boy-shoots-and-kills-13-year-old-sister-over-video-game-police-say/23389394/
9-year-old boy shoots and kills 13-year-old sister over video game, police say
A 13-year old girl in Mississippi is dead after being shot in the back of head Saturday by her 9-year old brother, after she refused to give up her video game controller. … …

***
Pre-crimes social engineering?  Limiting the lives and movements of those who don’t pass tests of Political Correctness — (…limited travel, how about limited buying and selling without an approved digital footprint? social isolation/imprisonment? Revelation 13:17?)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-social-credit-barred-flights-trains-president-xi-jinping-national-development-reform-a8260941.html
China to ban citizens with bad ’social credit’ rating from taking flights or using trains for up to a year
President Xi Jinping’s plan based on principle ‘once untrustworthy, always restricted’ to come into effect on 1 May
China said it will begin applying its so-called social credit system to flights and trains and stop people who have committed misdeeds from taking such transport for up to a year.
People who would be put on the restricted lists included those found to have committed acts like spreading false information about terrorism and causing trouble on flights, as well as those who used expired tickets or smoked on trains, according to two statements issued on the National Development and Reform Commission’s website on Friday.
Those found to have committed financial wrongdoings, such as employers who failed to pay social insurance or people who have failed to pay fines, would also face these restrictions, said the statements which were dated 2 March.  It added that the rules would come into effect on 1 May. … …

***
(March 20)
“The Blitz of Austin” continues:  parcel bomb explodes in San Antonia FedEx Center, on way to Austin.  The Press immediately speculates on racial motives — editorial/political pot stirring of racist motives without evidence?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5521343/Trump-blasted-staying-silent-Austin-bombings.html
BREAKING NEWS: Parcel containing 'nails and shrapnel' explodes at FedEx site in Texas as FBI probe link to Austin bomber and Trump is blasted for silence as campaigners say ‘if the victims were white, he'd be apoplectic'
	•	 Package 'containing nails and shrapnel' exploded at FedEx sorting centre
	•	One person injured in the explosion at facility in Schertz, San Antonio 
	•	Fourth explosion was reported in residential area of southwest Austin on Sunday
	•	Two white men were transported with serious but non-life threatening injuries 
	•	It follows a string of package bombs that killed two in Austin in the past month
	•	Police said latest attack showed 'different level of skill' than the package bombs
	•	President Trump has been criticized for his silence over the bombings which have targeted victims from Austin's historically black and Latino neighborhoods
	•	Trump was previously quick to label other bombings, such as the attack on Pulse nightclub by a Muslim shooter, as 'terrorism'

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/18/us/sxsw-bomb-threat/index.html
SXSW bomb threat forces cancellation of The Roots concert

***
Guilt by proximity association?  The surveillance society at work?
https://www.fastcompany.com/40546112/police-are-asking-google-to-provide-user-data-for-all-people-near-crime-scenes
Raleigh police are asking Google to provide user data for all people near crime scenes
Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, have presented Google with warrants to obtain data from mobile phones from not just specific suspects who were in a crime scene area, but from the mobile phones of all people in the area,  reports Raleigh television affiliate WRAL. The request will trouble Fourth Amendment advocates as it could be seen that police are carrying out unreasonable searches on people who just happened to be in the area at the time the crimes were committed. … …

***
Forget “Generation X” and “Millennials,” how about “Generation Hopeless”?  There is finally only Hope in Christ Alone.  Lord, can there be a new harvest before the End comes?  People are so lost.  There is purpose and reason to live in being a disciple of Christ.
The “shared blame” is for “mental health and addiction treatment,” and they will always be there as scapegoats for they do not work or are only “bandaids.”  The despair of Sin and Death are the real culprits, and only the work of Christ can defeat them.  God save from these last sad, confused, nearly insane and often hopeless generations!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/19/teen-suicide-soaring-do-spotty-mental-health-and-addiction-treatment-share-blame/428148002/
Teen suicide is soaring. Do spotty mental health and addiction treatment share blame?
J.C. Ruf, 16, was a Cincinnati-area pitcher who died by suicide in the laundry room of his house. Tayler Schmid, 17, was an avid pilot and hiker who chose the family garage in upstate New York. Josh Anderson, 17, of Vienna, Va., was a football player who killed himself the day before a school disciplinary hearing. The young men were as different as the areas of the country where they lived. But they shared one thing in common: A despair so deep they thought suicide was the only way out. … …
***
CBS News this morning says, “A nor’easter ‘for’ Easter’ ” as number 4 takes aim on the coast from New York to Boston.  Maine apparently spared this time.  Last night, tornadoes, high winds and large hail assaulted Alabama and environs.  Heavy structure damage.  Thank God, as many residents did, that no deaths occurred.  As much as 16” of heavy, wet snow and storm may assault portions of the coastline and the I-95 Corridor.
***
No, thanks! (Imagine the hacking potentials, not to mention the completely invasive controls of the Beast!)
https://newatlas.com/profusa-health-monitoring-biosensors/53870/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=84de3604e7-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-84de3604e7-91592265
Health-monitoring implants edge closer to common use
Over the past few years, Profusa Inc has been developing tiny biosensors that get injected under the skin, and then provide the user with health information via their smartphone. The technology was recently approved for marketing in Europe, with US approval possibly following soon. … …

***
(March 21)
Sodom College.  I can’t even print the whole headline here.  Will God have to apologize for destroying Sodom?  No, He doesn’t make mistakes, but certain Judgment cannot be far behind for a nation that produces these orgies of 100,000 at a time: dope, booze, and mass fornication. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.…” (Rev. 18:4)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5510589/Spring-Breakers-South-Padre-Island-Texas.html
EXCLUSIVE: A field hospital for drunk Spring Breakers…

***
“No. 5”?  Austin gripped in “blitzkrieg” fear as “military memorabilia” ignites in box of Goodwill donations —
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/03/20/another-explosion-austin/
‘Military Memento Device’ Goes Off At South Austin Goodwill
AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – Austin Police and firefighters responded to a reported explosion in the 9800 block of Brodie Lane in south Austin, at a Goodwill around 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.

The Austin Fire Department initially said it was a reported package explosion…. …
***
Bumps in the road for Big (Brother) Data—
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/business/ftc-facebook-privacy-investigation.html?emc=edit_th_180321&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980321
New Investigations Into Facebook Add New Pressures
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators and state prosecutors are opening investigations into Facebook. Politicians in the United States and Europe are calling for its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to testify before them. Investors have cut the value of the social networking giant by about $50 billion in the past two days.
They are all focused on the same thing: whether Facebook mishandled users’ data.
Facebook has built its highly profitable social network off its users, selling advertisements based on their ages, interests and other details. But the scrutiny over the company’s vast trove of personal data — following a report that a political consulting firm had improperly obtained information of 50 million users — is taking direct aim at that lucrative formula. … …
***
(March 22)
Austin bombings solved?  Just another blip in the racing media cycle?  Alleged Austin bomber blows self up in car while SWAT close in, firing.  A weakness in last days’ civilizations — the input of the individual, especially the one under stress — to upset the whole system, while the System continues to clamp down to eradicate individuality?  (Racial pot-stirring on this story looks all the more to be nothing but a press agenda.  Fake news.)

https://apnews.com/fe19f5eb998848958dfaf9edbfdb5cd1/Family-of-Austin-bombing-suspect-expresses-shock
Austin bombing suspect’s uncle says he was smart, kind
A 23-year-old suspected of planting deadly bombs that struck fear across Austin was described Wednesday by his uncle as a smart and kind “computer geek” and a friend said he was an assertive person who would end up being “kind of dominant and intimidating in conversation.”
Neither had any idea what might have motivated Mark Anthony Conditt, who authorities say died after detonating a bomb in his sport utility vehicle as officers moved in for an arrest near Austin. The attacks in the Texas capital and suburban San Antonio killed two people and wounded four others.
“I mean this is coming from nowhere. We just don’t know what. I don’t know how many ways to say it but everyone is caught off guard by this,” Conditt’s uncle, Mike Courtney of Lakewood, Colorado, told The Associated Press.
At a news conference Wednesday evening, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said he considers a 25-minute recording on a cellphone found with Conditt a “confession,” in which Conditt talks in great detail about the differences among the bombs he built.
But Manley suggested that there might never be a clear motive, noting where the explosives were placed or addressed seems random. … … (emphasis added)

***
How to make an already flawed humanity worse.  Sin makes everything, even gender, difficult, but denying the obvious makes everything much worse!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/service-canada-gender-neutral-1.4585629
Service Canada's gender neutral directive is 'confusing' and 'will be corrected' says minister
Front-line workers asked to use gender-neutral term 'parent' instead of mother or father

A federal cabinet minister says a directive to Service Canada agents telling them to use gender-neutral language — such as 'parent' instead of 'mother' or 'father' — when speaking to the public was badly worded and will be corrected.
The directive, obtained by Radio Canada, the French-language arm of CBC, instructs Service Canada employees who interact with the public to stay away from terms such as Mr., Mrs., father and mother, and to "use gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language."
"This avoids portraying a perceived bias toward a particular sex or gender," says a copy of speaking notes prepared for managers and team leaders. "It is important that Service Canada, as an organization, reflects Canada's diverse population and ensures that the views and interests of Canadians are taken into account when we develop policies, programs, services and initiatives."
The move was quickly mocked by the the Conservative opposition, who suggested Father's Day and Mother's Day would be renamed to be gender-neutral.
But in an interview with CBC News Network's Power & Politics, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos said that the directive is more about asking Canadians how they want to be addressed — and then following that advice.
"The directive that was sent this morning was confusing it will be corrected ... so that it's clear Service Canada agents have the respectful responsibility to do exactly what they are paid to do," Duclos told guest host David Cochrane. … …

***
Poor, crazy but over-abundant and beautiful California!  Will it be a crucible of judgment?  There are many Christians in this wonderful state, but as elsewhere, they are outnumbered by those racing to judgment.  May God pluck them out before whatever happens happens!
In a slightly lighter mode, two acts of political serendipity in a roiling state:

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2018/03/21/california-cities-seek-defy-sanctuary-state-revolt-spreads/
More California Cities Seek to Defy ‘Sanctuary State’ as Revolt Spreads
More California cities may consider defying the state’s “sanctuary state” laws, after the city council of Los Alamitos passed an ordinance defying the state’s controversial new legislation preventing cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Leaders of Los Alamitos, in Orange County, passed the ordinance 4-1 and instructed the city attorney to file an amicus brief in the ongoing Department of Justice lawsuit against the State of California. The lawsuit challenges the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (HB 450), the Inspection and Review of Facilities Housing Federal Detainees law (AB 103); and the California Values Act (SB 54).  The Orange County Register reports that other cities — and even Orange County itself — are now thinking of following suit… …
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/379460-gop-lawmaker-we-might-need-to-build-a-wall-between-california-and-arizona
GOP lawmaker: 'We might need to build a wall between California and Arizona'
Rep Martha McSally.  (R-Ariz.) proposed building a border wall between California and Arizona to protect the state.
“As we look in Arizona, we often look into the dangers of the southern border,” McSally said during a round-table discussion about "sanctuary cities" Tuesday at the White House. 
Sanctuary cities are municipalities that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
“But if these dangerous policies continue out of California, we might need to build a wall between California and Arizona as well to keep these dangerous criminals out of our state," she said, smiling. … …

***
A week or so ago, we heard about Alexa breaking suddenly into both laughs and screams.  Now, laser altered air may give a direct voice to the devil and his angels?!  Imagine the battlefield of Armageddon where amplified artificial shrieks, groans and moans will join in the agonies of the dying combatants…Laser weapons that also emit mortal screams…sounds like Hell to me…I look forward to NOT being there for Armageddon!  Thank God for the mercy of the Rapture!
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/03/us-military-making-lasers-create-voices-out-thin-air/146824/?oref=d-river
The US Military Is Making Lasers That Create Voices out of Thin Air
Within three years, the Pentagon's non-lethal weapons lab hopes to have a direct energy weapon that can produce an effect like a haunted walkie-talkie or the biblical burning bush.
Watch the video above and listen carefully for what sounds like a human voice during the second spin. That’s not an audio recording or a broadcast transmitted over radio…it’s not human at all. It’s an auditory effect that’s created by military scientists who manipulated the air with lasers — and it’s the Pentagon’s most interesting idea for stopping people charging checkpoints, or just scaring the crap out of them.
The U.S. military’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, or JNLWD, is inching closer to a weapon that alters atoms to literally create words from thin air. It’s called the Laser-Induced Plasma Effect and, fingers crossed, they hope to be able to say intelligible words within the next three years. … …

***
Not too much I can agree with the Pope about, but “the contemplation of the Cross” is no light matter for jewelry only.  Our dogmas diverge quickly, but on this one tenet we can agree.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/03/21/pope-francis-not-treat-crucifix-like-fashion-accessory/
Pope Francis: Do Not Treat the Crucifix like a ‘Fashion Accessory’

***
Whew!  With a rapidly militating and aggressive China under “Chairman Xi Zedong,”  this is something to watch:  “not happy”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/politics/trump-china-tariff-trade.html?emc=edit_th_180322&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980322
Trump Plans to Slap Stiff Tariffs and Investment Restrictions on China
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday plans to announce at least $50 billion worth of annual tariffs and other penalties on China for its theft of technology and trade secrets, which administration officials say has robbed American companies of billions of dollars in revenue and killed thousands of jobs.
The measures would mark Mr. Trump’s most aggressive move yet against a fast-rising economic rival that he has accused of preying on the United States. 
The measures will be targeted at imported Chinese goods in as many as 100 categories — hitting everything from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics — and will impose restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States, people briefed on the measures said.

***

(March 23)
A new populism from another angle?  Macron.
(“What’s in a name,” said the Bard:  “Macron” must refer to greatness like “macro.”  Emmanuel means “God with us” according to scripture.  The making of another penultimate demi-god?  “Many deceivers/antichrists shall come,” reveals John in 2 Jn 7 — and before the final one arises.)
https://groupegaullistesceaux.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/emmanuel-macron-becomes-frances-answer-to-strongman-populism/
Emmanuel Macron Becomes France’s Answer to Strongman Populism
PARIS — The plush red velvet seats of France’s National Assembly are filled with lawmakers who owe just about everything to President Emmanuel Macron.
Three-quarters of the 577 members are brand new, swept into power in the wake of his election last year. More than 60 percent are in his camp. Nearly one-third have never held public office, and 38 were under the age of 31 when they entered office.
They are perfect foot soldiers for a president with an expansive notion of power and the revolutionary aim of wrenching France’s society and economy into the 21st century. With the assembly firmly in his pocket, Mr. Macron has had almost unchecked authority to carry out his agenda, even as critics fret that he is building a fawning cult of personality. … …
***
Friday Breaking News in the War of Civilizations —
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5882551/france-supermarket-hostage-gunman-shoots-cop/
SIEGE SHOOTOUT Trebes hostage situation – ‘ISIS’ gunman shot dead after killing three in French supermarket siege had dropped his little sister off at school hours earlier
Cops brought the hostage taker's mother to the Super U store in Trèbes to persuade him to stop
***
President Trump threatens veto of $1.3 Trillion budget, with government shutdown, over the unresolved issues of the border wall and DACA.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/23/trump-threatens-to-veto-omnibus-spending-bill-over-daca-and-the-border-wall.html
Trump threatens to veto omnibus spending bill over DACA and the border wall
	•	Trump threatens to veto a $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress only hours before a government shutdown deadline.
	•	The about-face comes a day after White House officials had said Trump would sign the legislation despite his misgivings.
	•	Trump is irked about the immigration proposals included in the legislation.

Whew!  Breaking News:  NYTimes, Friday, March 23, 2018 1:36 PM EST
President Trump signed the spending bill, averting a shutdown, hours after threatening to veto it.  But he called the bill “ridiculous.”
	
***
(March 24)
Scientists duped by atheistic evolutionary theory, nonetheless are “seeing the handwriting on the wall”.  Says the Almighty through his Son:  “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”  Matthew 24:22

https://www.indy100.com/article/humans-are-sleepwalking-into-a-mass-extinction-8269776
Humans are sleepwalking into a mass extinction of species not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, British scientists warned.
excerpt:  15,000 scientists give catastrophic warning about the fate of the world in new ‘letter to humanity’
***
God forbid that race wars should begin!  Whatever the differences turn out to be since the time that God divided the nations (Genesis 10), the faithful Christians must resist and remind the races that men of every tribe, nation, and tongue will stand before the Throne of God as the Redeemed by the Blood of Christ while all others, of every nation and race, shall perish equally (See Rev. 5:9, 7:9-10).  God Save!  “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God…”  (See 1 Jn. 4:7-8).  “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  (John 13:35).
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c4e7e20e-2dfa-11e8-908b-95a753c47952
White farmers flee South Africa in fear of land grab
White farmers in South Africa are planning to emigrate after the government announced plans to take their land without compensation.
This month, MPs from the ruling African National Congress backed a motion calling for white-owned land to be seized, prompting farming unions to warn of a repeat of the land grabs in Zimbabwe, after which agricultural production collapsed.

Black Lives Matter!  Such killings are utterly detestable and indefensible.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/unarmed-man-death-hands-police-caught-video-article-1.3889185?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NydnRss+%28Top+Stories+-+NY+Daily+News%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results
Chilling videos show cops firing 20 shots at unarmed black man Stephon Clark in grandparent's yard.

***
Can the evil weakening of American Gender and Humanity (and even military readiness) be stopped?
Breaking News Alert / The NYTimes / Saturday, March 24, 2018 12:48 AM EST
President Trump approved new limits on transgender troops.  The policy allows some to continue to serve and lets the Pentagon make exceptions.
Transgender troops who are currently in the United States military may remain in the ranks, the White House said late Friday, but the Pentagon could require them to serve according to their gender at birth.
The policy recommendation that President Trump approved flatly states that “transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition are disqualified from military service.” But it also largely gives the Pentagon the ability to make exceptions where it sees fit.
Follow up story—
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/24/us/politics/trump-transgender-military.html?emc=edit_th_180324&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980324
Trump Approves New Limits on Transgender Troops in the Military
WASHINGTON — Transgender troops who are currently in the United States military may remain in the ranks, the White House said late Friday, but the Pentagon could require them to serve according to their gender at birth.
The policy recommendation that President Trump approved flatly states that “transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition are disqualified from military service.” But it also largely gives the Pentagon the ability to make exceptions where it sees fit.
The policy adopts recommendations that Mr. Trump received last month from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It comes after court rulings froze the president’s initial ban on transgender troops — issued in July — as potentially unconstitutional.
“In my professional judgment, these policies will place the Department of Defense in the strongest position to protect the American people, to fight and win America’s wars, and to ensure the survival and success of our service members around the world,” Mr. Mattis wrote in a summary of his recommendations to the president.
The policy announcement outraged advocates for transgender troops, and the advocates vowed to fight the limits in court. … …

***
Serious times all around / NYTimes “Quote of the Day”
Poking at the Kings of the East? “And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand (200 million): and I heard the number of them.” (Rev. 9:16).  “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”  (Rev. 16:12).

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"People are trying to avoid appearing terrified, but people are deeply concerned."
TONG ZHAO, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, on the apprehension of American allies in Asia about the appointment of John R. Bolton as President Trump’s national security adviser.

***
(March 25)
Legalized Marijuana bullies itself into Vermont —
pagecommunications4vt@gmail.com
STATE HOUSE  HEADLINERS
published by Guy Page, Page Communications

With medical marijuana expansion, towns can’t “just say no” to pot dispensaries

S216, allowing a medical marijuana prescription for any medical condition, will get a quick look in House Human Services Committee next week. The bill also removes a “local option” for cities and towns to ban the sale of marijuana.  
 
An attorney for the Legislature will conduct a quick “walk-through” to familiarize the committee with S216. There will be no testimony taken, and no vote, a committee spokesperson said. … …(emphases added)

***
Organized chaos in Sweden to disrupt Gender by Preschool—
http://ibexnews24.com/2018/03/in-swedens-preschools-boys-learn-to-dance-and-girls-learn-to-yell/
In Sweden’s Preschools, Boys Learn to Dance and Girls Learn to Yell
That process was just beginning at the Seafarer’s Preschool on a recent morning, when the children scrambled out of voluminous snowsuits. Underneath his, Otto, a sturdy 3-year-old, was wearing a dress.
Otto prefers to wear dresses because he likes the way they fan out when he spins around, and it does not make him unusual here. Up until now, no one in Otto’s life — not his grandparents, or babysitters, or fellow 3-year-olds — has told him that boys do not wear dresses, said his mother, Lena Christiansson, 36, matter-of-factly. She would like this to continue as long as possible.
This expectation has become increasingly common, said Ms. Storesund, the Seafarer’s gender specialist.
“Now, parents ask us, ‘What are you doing about gender?’” she said.
Ms. Storesund is on hand to confront classroom dilemmas: When boys in the group for 3-year-olds refused to paint, or dance, and the group threatened to split along gender lines, she was brought in to unpack the problem, tinkering with the activities until she coaxed the boys back to equal participation.
Preserving a gender-neutral environment is not simple. Carina Sevebjork Saur, 57, who has been teaching at the school for a year and a half, said she often catches herself saying the wrong thing, like an offhand compliment on a child’s appearance.
“You are on your way to saying something, as a reflex, but you have to hold it back,” she said. “You can comment on clothes in other ways: ‘Oh, my goodness, how many polka dots!’”

***
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; 
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”
Isaiah 11:6, 7 on the Coming Peaceful Millennial Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ
We wait in Faith and Hope.

	

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March 18

Dear Saints,

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1, 2)

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (4:16)

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (4:12)

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (5:13-14)
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (9:13, 14)
																												—Glorious Selections to the Hebrews (and to us) from the Apostle

***
The Week —

(March 12)
Some weeks back, I reported here a Freedom of Information Act release of a UFO spotted by various civli and military observers off the West Coast.  Now, new footage of a new UFO is released from off the East Coast.  This time the object is below the fighter jet’s cameras and between it and the ocean.  The swells of the sea can be seen streaking by in the background.  “Signs in the heavens”? The “Ophanim” are the class of angels seen by Ezekiel in his vision of heavenly “wheels within wheels.”  Righteous angels will never appear to men without being explicitly sent by God with a task or a message (and one that conforms to his glory and honor and an accurate Gospel to men), but there may be fallen Ophanim or imitators too who will sport with humans to entrance and destroy them with deceptions.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/10/footage-of-mysterious-object-above-ocean-stuns-military-personnel/
Footage of mysterious object above ocean stuns military personnel
Newly-released video of a mysterious object streaking over the Atlantic Ocean shows the Pentagon needs to take UFOs seriously, a researcher says.
The sensational two-minute clip captured by a camera aboard a US Navy F/A 18 jet flying at 25,000 feet wowed military personnel. … …

***
Anything for a buck?  Huxley’s Brave New World secular prophecy comes to pass; Mother shall become only an obscene word. (While God’s Truth stands:  Honor thy Father and thy Mother.)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/mothers-day-cards-go-gender-neutral-nc0rpxf00
Mother’s Day cards go gender-neutral

Waitrose is selling gender-neutral Mother’s Day cards as retailers reduce their use of the M-word to make today’s celebration more “transgender inclusive”.
The supermarket chain is selling a “Happy You Day” card in its Mother’s Day range in which the word “mother” does not appear. … …
***
The AI algorithms of YouTube, polarizing and radicalizing any viewpoint to keep us watching and keep advertising bucks flowing?  (I like YouTube and it can be very helpful, but these points are worthy of consideration to keep us clear-headed.)
https://wentworthreport.com/2018/03/12/youtube-the-great-radicalizer/
 YouTube, the Great Radicalizer
 by Zeynep Tufekci
At one point during the 2016 presidential election campaign, I watched a bunch of videos of Donald Trump rallies on YouTube. … Soon I noticed something peculiar. YouTube started to recommend and “autoplay” videos for me that featured white supremacist rants, Holocaust denials and other disturbing content.
Since I was not in the habit of watching extreme right-wing fare on YouTube, I was curious whether this was an exclusively right-wing phenomenon. So I created another YouTube account and started watching videos of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, letting YouTube’s recommender algorithm take me wherever it would.
Before long, I was being directed to videos of a leftish conspiratorial cast, including arguments about the existence of secret government agencies and allegations that the United States government was behind the attacks of Sept. 11. As with the Trump videos, YouTube was recommending content that was more and more extreme than the mainstream political fare I had started with.
Intrigued, I experimented with nonpolitical topics. The same basic pattern emerged. Videos about vegetarianism led to videos about veganism. Videos about jogging led to videos about running ultramarathons.
It seems as if you are never “hard core” enough for YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. It promotes, recommends and disseminates videos in a manner that appears to constantly up the stakes. Given its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.
This is not because a cabal of YouTube engineers is plotting to drive the world off a cliff. A more likely explanation has to do with the nexus of artificial intelligence and Google’s business model. (YouTube is owned by Google.) For all its lofty rhetoric, Google is an advertising broker, selling our attention to companies that will pay for it. The longer people stay on YouTube, the more money Google makes.
***
(March 13)
Now, it’s package bombs on the doorstep!  Worse, all victims to date have been African Americans or Hispanics, raising the press specter of hate crimes in Austin.  Race-baiting and race-war are about the last things we need in America, but tensions and hate speech on all sides now make such things a frightening possibility.  Add to that the general terror / fear of death at your doorstep for all.  What next?  Presently, jihad seems not to be involved.  Read Psalm 91:  Let us earnestly look to God for protection for our families and loved ones in these  days, darkening from all sides.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/police-two-deadly-package-bombs-austin-texas-earlier-004722463.html
Police link two deadly package bombs in Austin, Texas, to earlier attack
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Two package bombs left outside homes in Austin, Texas, exploded on Monday, killing a teenager and injuring two women in attacks that police linked to a deadly blast earlier this month.

A natural panic follows —

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/03/13/deadly-bomb-package-austin/
Police Report 150 Calls As Deadly Package Bombings Put Austin On Edge
(CNN) — A series of deadly package bombs delivered to homes in Austin has shaken residents and cast suspicion on one of life’s common occurrences — getting a package delivered to your doorstep.
Three package bombs have exploded at homes in the Texas capital over 10 days — including two Monday — killing two people and injuring two others. Investigators say they believe the incidents are related, and residents have responded anxiously in the past day.
Austin police have received 150 calls about suspicious packages, Chief Brian Manley said Tuesday on Twitter, though police haven’t indicated any subsequent check revealing anything alarming. … …

***
Forgiveness for Joy Behar of The View —
https://news.grabien.com/story-joy-behar-i-sincerely-apologize-what-i-said-about-pence-and
JOY BEHAR: ‘I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT I SAID’ ABOUT PENCE AND HIS FAITH
‘I felt it was important that I defend the faith of tens of millions of Americans against that kind of slander’ (said VP Pence)

Joy Behar, who mocked Vice President’s Mike Pence’s Christian faith and then resisted apologizing, has now done so.
Last month Behar derided Pence for saying he communicates with Jesus through prayer.
“Like I said before, it’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you,” Behar said. “That’s called mental illness, if I’m not correct. Hearing voices.”
“My question is can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?” she added, referencing Pence’s policy of not dining alone with another woman if his wife is not there, too.
Pence objected to the segment, calling it an attack on all Christians: "To have ABC maintain a broadcast forum that compared Christianity to mental illness is just wrong. And it’s an insult not to me, but to the vast majority of the American people who, like me, cherish their faith."
Asked to apologize, the hosts of The View initially refused, insisting they were just "joking."
Today Behar finally apologized. Commenting on Mike Pence discussing the segment on "Hannity" in which he said he forgave her after she apologized to him personally, but hoped he would apologize to Christians generally. 
"I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith," Behar said. "I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said.”
The hosts then quickly pivoted to their "Hot Topics" segment, where they discussed Trump's firing of Rex Tillerson as secretary of State.
Here's a transcript:
GOLDBERG: “So last night, the Vice President was on ‘Sean Hannity’ talking about the recent conversation he had with Joy Behar. Take a look.” [clip starts] PENCE: “You and I know that criticism comes with public life. But I felt it was important that I defend the faith of tens of millions of Americans against that kind of slander. And I did so. And, you know, I give Joy Behar a lot of credit. She picked up the phone. She called me. She was very sincere. And she apologized. One of the things my faith teaches me is grace. Forgive as you have been forgiven.” HANNITY: “So does mine, but I’m not as good at it as you.” PENCE: “I said to Joy, ‘Of course, I forgive you.’ That’s a part of my faith experience. I did encourage her. And I’m still encouraging her to use the forum of that program or some other public forum to apologize to tens of millions of Americans who were equally offended.” [clip ends] BEHAR: “So — Yeah. So, I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith. I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said.”

***
(March 14)
Stephen Hawking, dead at 76.  The whole world loved this gentle, sometimes comedic, genius who kept a wonderful positive attitude in the midst of terrible suffering.  But, as far we know he died as a “moral humanist” or “benevolent atheist/agnostic.”  He admitted he could not quite see around the corner of the Universe, but did not believe The God of the Bible was there.  However, we may have some hope for him due to what theologians call “the intermediate state,” an eternal moment for each soul as it passes across from life to death.  It is only a little hope, and we believers should never rely on what we might surmise about it, any more than we should think to grant salvation to suicides — Which chamber of Hades did Saul go into, hell or the paradise of “Abraham’s Bosom,” when the arising Samuel said to him, “Tomorrow you will be with me” ?  — and by such wonderings lessen our urgent proclaiming of the Gospel:  “it is appointed to men once to die, and after this the judgment.”  But it could be that as Stephen Hawking was about to turn that great corner of the Universe, he was able to cry out, “Oh, you are there!  I am so sorry I missed that one final point; do, please, let me be with you!” — “For many that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first.”  For all who die in unknown state, we can only have some little hope till Judgment Day when all will be known.  Meanwhile, we must keep in mind the rich man in hell for whom there was no escape in Luke 16:24.  Thank you, O Lord, for sure for the mercy you poured on Stephen Hawking in his arduous life.  He was very glad to live beyond the two years physicians predicted for him at 22, and you gave him over 50 more!

This piece is quite a media salute to Hawking — with many photos and thoughtful text.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5498269/Professor-Stephen-Hawking-dead-76.html
Professor Stephen Hawking dies peacefully aged 76 at his Cambridge home - 55 years after the scientist was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given just two years to live
	•	Physicist Professor Stephen Hawking died this morning at his Cambridge home 
	•	His children have praised his 'courage and persistence' that inspired millions
	•	Scientist diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 and given 2 years to live
	•	Illness was  slower than expected and he married twice and had three children
	•	Wrote 15 books and starred in The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek
	•	His 1988 book A Brief History of Time sold more than ten million copies since
	•	Hawking married Jane Wilde in 1965 and had children Robert, Lucy and Tim
	•	They divorced in 1991 and he married his former nurse Elaine Mason in 1994 
	•	Tributes for the 'brilliant mind' whose 'courage and humour was an inspiration'

Excerpt:  Hawking said belief in a God who intervenes in the universe 'to make sure the good guys win or get rewarded in the next life' was wishful thinking.
'But one can't help asking the question: Why does the universe exist?' he said in 1991. 'I don't know an operational way to give the question or the answer, if there is one, a meaning. But it bothers me.'
(ed. comment:  Let’s hope it “bothered” him enough somehow!)

***
Ezekiel’s Great Battle, WW3, of his 2600 year old prophecy, chapters 38 and 39, appears to be drawing closer.  Many watchers believe present Turkey is the Land of Magog or within its shadow, and together with Rosh (Russia) as leader, allied with Persia (Iran), they will be the captains of this great army which will include Muslims from many regional countries but not all Muslims (38:13) or only Muslims (Rosh, the leader).  In force, they will indeed be much greater than Israel (Hamongog, “the hordes of Gog” 38:9, 15-16, 39:11. etc), , but the prophecy says God will show his own hand directly in destroying the armies of this attack.  God will do this with a great earthquake, one so massive its pressure waves will even knock “birds” (planes?) out of the sky (38:20), and other judgment catastrophes (38:22) and will cause such confusion as to turn these allies against one another so that brother will slay brother to finish off the battle (38:21).  These are the judgments on Rosh, Persia, Gog and Magog and the nations with them.  Read the passages and read them carefully, for fire will also fall (39:6) on cities distant from the battle site, and these may include major western cities and the careless (39:6) — “care less”— will perish. These inrushing nukes may signal The Rapture just before they arrive — as this war, by his prophecies, likely also has a nuclear component.  And apparent “Hazmat” provisions will be needed to clean up the battle site (39:14, 15).  Remember 98% Islamic Pakistan now has around 200 nuclear-tipped missiles.  Yet, the very strategies, combatants, sites and movements of the battle indicate this is not the Battle of Armageddon, as some insist, but probably occurs about seven years before it and leads to it….so that together they could be considered battles of one protracted war.  This battle could be imminent and is before the Abomination of Desolation by the Antichrist that signals the timing of Armageddon, 3 1/2 years later.
Erdogan is a present ascending demagogue and dictator.
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2083
Turkey To Lead Islamic Army Of 57 Muslim Nations Against Israel?

On Dec. 12, 2017, ahead of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul,  the Turkish daily Yeni Şafak, which is close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling AKP party, published an article titled "A Call for Urgent Action," which also appeared on the paper's website under the title "What If an Army of Islam Was Formed Against Israel?"

The article called on the 57 member states of the OIC to form a joint "Army of Islam" to besiege and attack the state of Israel. It notes that such a joint army will greatly exceed the Israeli army in manpower, equipment and budget, and presents statistics to prove this. … …

***
(March 15)
“The New Normal” is not very palatable.  Young students writhe in chirping mental agonies (like little ones in an abandoned nest).  “In the last days perilous times shall come…”  Indeed, they are here.
	NYTimes Quote of the Day—
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"We have grown up watching more tragedies occur and continuously asking: Why? Why does this keep happening?"
KAYLEE TYNER, a 16-year-old junior who walked out of class in protest of gun violence, at Columbine High School in Colorado, where 13 people were killed in 1999.

***
(March 16)
Do you really need or want “internet-of-things” products?  At any rate, read the directions and change out of default passwords, erecting what walls you can to prevent intrusions.  Doubtless, we are being watched now by our cars, TVs, phones, and computers and in many other venues, but why help “it” along?

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2084
Researchers Say Smart Home Devices Can Be Hacked, Then Spy On Its Users

Researchers at Israel's Ben-Gurion University have revealed that off-the-shelf smart devices like baby monitors, air conditioners, robot floor cleaners, cameras and doorbells can be corrupted by malware and used to spy on users.

In a paper appearing in Smart Card Research and Advanced Applications, Yossi Oren of Ben-Gurion University's software and information systems engineering department revealed that almost any nonstandard computing device that can connect to a wireless network can be used to transmit data.

The senior lecturer noted that many web-connected devices "lack even basic security protections such as secure password authentication," and that thousands of "Internet of Things" devices are infected with malware, with many more left vulnerable.

The researchers conducted a test and were able to reverse engineer several home devices using low-cost methods, uncovering serious security issues.

"It is truly frightening how easily a criminal, voyeur or pedophile can take over these devices," said Oren. "Using these devices in our lab, we were able to play loud music through a baby monitor, turn off a thermostat and turn on a camera remotely, much to the concern of our researchers who themselves use these products."

The BGU researchers discovered that the same default passwords are used for similar products sold under different brands, and that consumers and businesses rarely change them after purchase.

The paper urged consumers not to buy used devices that could already have malware installed and to change passwords after purchase.

***
(March 18)
The latest waves in megachurch models.  We should rejoice if orthodoxy (original intent of the Bible) is holding sway.  Remember, the Lord compared the Church to field sowed with good wheat and then infiltrated with weed seed sown by enemies.  At least, spiritual hunger is alive.  As with the Jesus Movement of my era, many remained solid in faith and many departed from it for many and varied reasons.  God save.  The multitudes come and go, but the saved soul remains.

https://www.gfmreview.com/america/this-preacher-would-be-happy-to-share-your-bowl-of-acai
This Preacher Would Be Happy To Share Your Bowl Of Açaí
LOS ANGELES — On a strip of Wilshire Boulevard, not far from where the rapper Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in a drive-by shooting some 20 years ago, a black plastic pool had been placed on the sidewalk outside the El Rey Theater. It was a balmy December afternoon, and the theater had been transformed into an assembly for Zoe Church, a two-and-a-half-year-old evangelical congregation that got its start in a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.

***
	
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/world/middleeast/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-likud.html 

In Israel’s Poorer Periphery, Legal Woes Don’t Dent Netanyahu’s Appeal
The underdog sentiment and distrust of Israel’s old, liberal elite still run deep among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s supporters, who are sticking firmly by him, despite graft accusations.

***
Populism asserts against murderous corruption in Slovakia —

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/slovakia-stability-chaos-journalist-death-53630765
Tens of thousands protest in Slovakia at journalist's death
Tens of thousands of Slovaks rallied in massive anti-government protests across the country on Friday to demand a thorough investigation of the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, and changes in government.
The protesters packed a central square in Bratislava and other rallies were taking place in dozens of other places in Slovakia as well as abroad, the biggest since the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

***

And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 

(Hebrews 1:7, 8)

*******************************************************
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March 11

Saints,

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”  How do we do this in this day?  By taking personally (and corporately) the Great Commission: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”  Matthew 28:18-20.

And by what power?  “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26; “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” John 15:26; “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”  1 John 2:27 

In his weekly letter this week, Hal Lindsey said of Billy Graham:  “And to the end, Billy never wavered from presenting the pure, basic, simple, unadorned Gospel: That all men are sinners in need of a Savior and that Jesus Christ is that Savior. And Jesus is the only way to heaven and eternal life.”  Hal reminded us of Billy’s epitaph:  “It reads simply: ‘Billy Graham, Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ ” 

Whatever station of life or particularities of calling, God would have us earnestly say and be the same.  God help us all with his power and might, comfort and anointing!

*
(Correction of last blog issue:  The new supercity of NEOM in Saudi Arabia will not be at the southern end of the Red Sea as reported, but further north on the Red Sea at the southern end of the Red Sea’s Gulf of Suez and near its juncture with the southern end of the Gulf of Aqaba.)
***
The Week —
(March 5)
Racism, the shoe on the other foot? (add sexism, heterophobia, “inclusivism”)
Comic-con, a fool’s paradise of parody and self-destruction?
Save, O Lord, from among these overgrown children.  “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:23)

https://pjmedia.com/trending/segregation-comic-con-no-straight-white-males-allowed-parties/
Segregation at Comic Con: No Straight, White Males Allowed at Parties
The comics industry seems to be doubling down on their policy of completely excluding anyone who is straight, white, male, or conservative. This year's Emerald City Comic Con released its schedule of events on its app recently. Anyone who is male, white and identifies as heterosexual found himself excluded from industry mixers and professional mixers. … …

***
“Lucifer’s Satanic Deception,”  said the delivered Jesus People; “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” said the Beatles:  “It was twenty (now 50+) years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play.  They’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile…”

(Frankly, the Sgt. Pepper’s Album was the first Public Acid Trip that went worldwide virtually overnight (long before internet virality, 1967).  It spawned almost universal (if indiscernible to uninitiates) social change, from little things as simple as “The Electric Company,” a children’s show at the time, and a direct pun for psychedelic experience — to untold multitudes of other experiences.  Even “deepest darkest Africa” until that time was espousing western styles but immediately many among those citizenries returned to manifestations of wild paganism/heathenism, reflected back yet again in the West today by unending piercings, body-covering tattoos, lip and ear and nose distortions, pink, blue, green, orange hair, etc.  Thank LSD for this “harmonizing” with satanic morphings.  It is the chief piece of material sorcery on the planet (along with its natural cousins), rapidly opening the fallen spiritual world to human experience.  “Micro doses” of it are another direct entrance of Lucifer into the human minds of the populace, supposedly soothing and blessing them.)

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article203341684.html#fmp
LSD is 'harmonizing' for the brain — and can change your personality for years, studies find

Your brain on LSD is kind of like jazz improvisation.
That’s according to Selen Atasoy, a research fellow at the Center for Brain and Cognition at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain. She was among the authors of a study published in the journal Scientific Reports that found the psychedelic drug can reorganize your brain in a “harmonizing” way.

***
Helter Skelter Europa — Italy pursues populism —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/world/europe/italy-election.html?smtyp=cur
Italy Election Gives Big Lift to Far Right and Populists
The most likely result of the election, which had no outright winner but handed a majority of votes to hard-right and populist forces, will be a government in Italy that is significantly less invested in the project of a united Europe. … …

ROME — Italians registered their dismay with the European political establishment on Sunday, handing a majority of votes in a national election to hard-right and populist forces that ran a campaign fueled by anti-immigrant anger.
The election, the first in five years, was widely seen as a bellwether of the strength of populists on the continent and how far they might advance into the mainstream. The answer was far, very far. … …

***
Deep debauchery for multitudes of unwitting victims arrives via Cyberland.  Even with parodies exposed, deeply damaging dehumanization will avalanche.
(God save the Obamas from this travesty of indecency, and use this attack to bring them closer to salvation in Him.)

http://treasurereading.com/here-come-the-fake-videos-too/
Here Come the Fake Videos, Too
The scene opened on a room with a red sofa, a potted plant and the kind of bland modern art you’d see on a therapist’s wall.
In the room was Michelle Obama, or someone who looked exactly like her. Wearing a low-cut top with a black bra visible underneath, she writhed lustily for the camera and flashed her unmistakable smile.
Then, the former first lady’s doppelgänger began to strip.
The video, which appeared on the online forum Reddit, was what’s known as a “deepfake” — an ultrarealistic fake video made with artificial intelligence software. It was created using a program called FakeApp, which superimposed Mrs. Obama’s face onto the body of a pornographic film actress. The hybrid was uncanny — if you didn’t know better, you might have thought it was really her.
Until recently, realistic computer-generated video was a laborious pursuit available only to big-budget Hollywood productions or cutting-edge researchers. Social media apps like Snapchat include some rudimentary face-morphing technology.
But in recent months, a community of hobbyists has begun experimenting with more powerful tools, including FakeApp — a program that was built by an anonymous developer using open-source software written by Google. FakeApp makes it free and relatively easy to create realistic face swaps and leave few traces of manipulation. Since a version of the app appeared on Reddit in January, it has been downloaded more than 120,000 times, according to its creator. … …

***
(February 7)
The US psyche and the human flesh of Utah high school students “dodged a bullet” in what was about to be the next school attack.  Thanks be to God.

http://kutv.com/news/local/juvenile-arrested-admits-to-replacing-us-flag-with-isis-flag-at-hurricane-school
Police: Teen attempted to detonate explosive device at Pine View, researched ISIS
ST. GEORGE, Utah — 
 Police said a homemade explosive device was the item discovered in a backpack at Pine View High School Monday, that forced the evacuation of the school. Police said if the device had detonated, it would have caused significant injury or death.  Police have a suspect in custody.
A warrant served at the male juvenile's home and items were found consistent with the materials used to build the device. Police also said the suspect had been researching information and expressing interest in ISIS and promoting the organization. … …

***
Deeply cheapening and defacing humanity?  More on “face-morphing” with samples of how they do it.  See story on Michelle Obama, second story above, on March 5.  This piece also mentions how Barack Obama was by appearances made to give a speech he never made.  These creations may make present “fake news” seem like child’s play and are incredibly dangerous and destructive whether in mass panic scenarios, causing even military actions, on national and international levels or the destruction of character, reputation, career, etc. on individual bases.  It is hard to see where this will go or how it can be remedied, or how credibility at all levels will be assuaged.  Even if the false is totally rejected by many, how will true video recording withstand accusation?  What’s true?  What’s not? Who knows? Life as a Matrix fantasy…or horror show?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/03/05/digital-media-manipulation/
Alarming Advances Made In Digital Media Manipulation
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Forget the idea of “seeing is believing.” New technology is making digital media manipulation easier than ever.
The result? Phony videos that are popping up across the web.
One video  making the rounds is of former-President Barack Obama delivering a speech that he never actually made. It’s part of a video trend circulating the internet called Deepfake, which has made it tougher to tell what’s real and what’s not.
“It’s very concerning because as people get better with this software we’re able to not just use celebrities, they’re able to use a neighbor in a video and compromise that person,” FITECH Senior Vice President Duarte Pereira said. … …

***
Amazon’s Alexa — Getting Creepy?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5470379/Amazons-Alexa-voice-assistant-wont-stop-randomly-laughing.html
'There's a good chance I get murdered tonight': Terrified Amazon Echo users reveal Alexa has been emitting 'bone chilling' laughs at random and is ignoring their commands
	•	Users say their Alexa-enabled devices won't stop laughing at random times 
	•	One user said they were sleeping and an Amazon Echo Dot laughed unprompted
	•	Alexa is programmed in many voice-activated devices with a preset laugh 
	•	Amazon has yet to respond to inquiries trying to get to the bottom of the issue  

There are plenty of stories of artificial intelligence gone wrong.
But recent reports from owners of Amazon Alexa devices are being called 'bone chillingly creepy.'
Some users say their Alexa-enabled gadgets start laughing totally unprompted. 
One user reportedly tried to turn the lights off in their home but Alexa repeatedly turned the lights back on, eventually uttering an 'evil laugh,' according to BuzzFeed. 
Another Echo Dot owner said they told Alexa to turn off their alarm in the morning and she responded by letting out a 'witch-like' laugh. 
Alexa is programmed in many voice-activated devices with a preset laugh, which can be prompted by asking: 'Alexa, how do you laugh?'
But so far, it's unclear why Alexa is laughing even when users don't ask her to. … …

***
(March 9)
May God carry her through from any elements of convenient or political repentance to a full and actual repentance that will find her saved at the foot of the Cross too.  
(2 Corinthians 7:10:  “For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”)
http://www.entertainmentdaily.com/filmandtv/joy-behars-top-boss-responds-to-backlash-over-mike-pence-joke/
Disney Boss Responds to Backlash Over Joy Behar’s Mike Pence Joke
The comedian has come under fire for her comments about Christianity.

The View’s Joy Behar personally called Vice President Mike Pence to apologize for her “mental illness” joke that infuriated Christians.
The revelation was made on Thursday during the Walt Disney Co.’s annual meeting with shareholders in Houston, Texas.
The company owns ABC – the network that broadcasts The View – and other channels, including ESPN. … …
***
On the way to humanizing pigs for organ transplants to humans?  First, ultra clean, virus free, caesarean birth/harvest for piglets.  Behind that, genetic modifications as the R&D continues.  Experiments like the Nephilim conducted before the Flood?  Not only angel-human hybrids but also angel/human/animal/even plant DNA spliced into new “human monsters”?  Are these the monster Titans of old, along with their fauns, centaurs, minotaurs, twisted giants, Cyclops, etc?  It begins again?  “And as it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Luke 17:26
http://www.the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004283766
Scientists develop pigs for transplants
A team of scientists says it has created a pig that can be used in transplantations in humans.
According to the team, which includes researchers from Meiji University and Kyoto Prefectural University, the animal is the first to be developed for transplantation based on national guidelines for xenotransplantation, in which animal organs and cells are transplanted into humans.
The team will present its findings at a forum of the Japanese Society for Xenotransplantation in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on Saturday, and plans to jointly supply the pigs with a private company early next year.
More than 200 pig-to-human xenotransplantations have been conducted in New Zealand, Russia and other countries in response to a shortage of organs for transplant, as pig organs are functionally similar to those of humans. … …

***
Some at least momentary good news for the American economy.  God gives us richly.  Let us all the more acknowledge Him and his ways —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/business/economy/jobs-report.html?emc=edit_na_20180309&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998&ref=headline
BREAKING NEWS / NYTIMES / Friday, March 9, 2018 8:35 AM EST
The U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs in February, far exceeding analysts’ expectations.  The jobless rate stayed at 4.1 percent.
The Labor Department released its latest hiring and unemployment figures on Friday morning, providing one of the better snapshots of the state of the American economy.
■ 313,000 jobs were added last month. Economists had anticipated a gain of about 200,000.
■ The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, the same as in January.
***
(March 11)
The latest trot-out of the spirit of antichrist for children.  The enemy is “IT,” and in the original story it was a huge, disembodied brain.  In the movie, it is reported as a nebulous force.  How odd and convenient that a present, capitalized IT stands for Internet Technology, the omnipresent body of the Beast.  The movie is being panned by critics for its utter confusion mixed with apparent “feel goodness.”

http://www.thisisinsider.com/wrinkle-in-time-movie-changes-book-religion-christianity-ending-2018-3
'A Wrinkle in Time' ditches the book's explicit Christian references — and the movie really suffers because of it
Disney's big-budget adaptation of the best-selling novel "A Wrinkle in Time" fakers in many of the same ways the book does— but there was one major change made in the movie from the novel. The film's version of events strips away explicit mention of God or religion, instead trimming down the central conflict to one between "evil" and "light."
Though the film adaptation has several critical flaws — namely pacing and an off-kilter wobble between too much exposition and then not enough — the removal of L'Engle's religious overtones leads to a key issue.
By removing the religious themes, the movie version of "A Wrinkle in Time" loses part of its narrative arc. This leads to a confusing storyline and muddled message when it comes to the antagonist and the purpose of the celestial characters of Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which. … …

***
British educators realize they have over-protectively dehumanized and weakened their children with excessive risk-management.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/europe/britain-playgrounds-risk.html?emc=edit_th_180311&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980311
In Britain’s Playgrounds, ‘Bringing in Risk’ to Build Resilience
excerpt:  This view is tinged with nostalgia for an earlier Britain, in which children were tougher and more self-reliant. It resonates both with right-wing tabloids, which see it as a corrective to the cosseting of a liberal nanny state; and with progressives, drawn to a freer and more natural childhood. It is also supported by a growing list of government officials, among them Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, the powerful agency that inspects British schools.

***
 For unto us a child is born, 
unto us a son is given: 
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, 
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, 
to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice 
from henceforth even for ever. 
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:6-7

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March 4

Saints,

We must give praise to God that it is his restraint that holds the planet together:  “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first (the Great Apostasy), and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (the Antichrist);  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (the Abomination of Desolation, see also Matt, 24:15, Mk. 13:14). Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (the Holy Spirit in the remnant believing Church) who now letteth (restrains) will let (restrain), until he be taken out of the way (at the Rapture).  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul to the Thessalonians 2:1-14.

The Great Apostasy seems to be all over the American Church and in thought-control of much of religious media.  Frequently, the simplest, most straightfoward biblical doctrines are rewritten to say anything the promoters want them to say and typically the near to exact opposite of what they do say.  We have lesbian and gay and transgender “pastors” and “bishops,” (in various stages of changing over), and women disgracing themselves as strident “pastors” over churches wagging their finger at the men who are cowed by them and at their rantings.  Meanwhile, biblical Christianity of any kind is crucified as a “hate crime.”  If there is no place left to go to find an uncompromising Word, believers must be “anchored in Jehovah,” firmly placing themselves in the hand of the Lord Jesus, and find what social solace they can in the few here and there who see with them what is happening.  Remember, when Elijah, left alone, ran in terror from the fomenting Jezebel and her hordes, how the Lord took him aside and said, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19).  Walk, Run, Stand into the Presence of the Lord by the Spirit, and find fellowship when and where you can.  We must hold these as the Most Precious of All Things, our Pearl of Great Price, or we also will be carried away.

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the  LORD will lift up a standard (battle flag) against him.”  Isaiah 59:19

***
The week —

(February 26)
God’s Unfailing Word—

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2038
Find Of Biblical Proportions: Proof Of Prophet Isaiah Believed Unearthed
Amanda Borschel-Dan
Posted with permission from The Times of Israel
Chanced upon meters from the discovery of a seal identified with King Hezekiah, the minuscule clay piece bearing Isaiah's name is thought to have been made by the prophet himself
The hand of the Prophet Isaiah himself may have created an 8th-century BCE seal impression discovered in First Temple remains near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, according to Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar.
“We appear to have discovered a seal impression, which may have belonged to the prophet Isaiah, in a scientific, archaeological excavation,” said Mazar this week in a press release announcing the breathtaking discovery.
Mazar’s team uncovered the minuscule bulla, or seal impression, during renewed excavations at the Ophel, located at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The discovery was published on Wednesday in an article, “Is This the Prophet Isaiah’s Signture?” as part of a massive March-June issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review dedicated to its recently retired founding editor, Hershel Shanks.
The clay impression is inscribed with letters and what appears to be a grazing doe, “a motif of blessing and protection found in Judah, particularly in Jerusalem,” according to the BAR article.
The oval-shaped bulla, however, is not intact. On its legible portion, there is an inscription with First Temple Hebrew letters that seem to spell out the name l’Yesha’yah[u] (Belonging to Isaiah). On a line below, there is the partial word nvy, which presumably spells out “prophet.”
“Because the bulla has been slightly damaged at end of the word nvy, it is not known if it originally ended with the Hebrew letter aleph, which would have resulted in the Hebrew word for ‘prophet’ and would have definitively identified the seal as the signature of the prophet Isaiah,” Mazar said. … …

***
(February 27)
Is Mao (the spirit of) rising again?  China is a major player in the scenario of Armageddon.  Will it be a strong king (authoritarian dictator) who will drive the army of 200 million across the Euphrates and into the Valley of Megiddo (Rev. 9:16 & 16:12)?  Already, China has been building defensive islands and offshore airbases to defend its rear flank, building hypersonic fighters and nuclear delivery hypersonic drones, and planning warfare in space.  What next?  Armageddon Itself cannot come until the Rapture, the Seven Years of Tribulation, and its second half, the 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation after the Antichrist declares himself to be god by committing the Abomination of Desolation in the new Temple.  But, do we see the grand elements positioning themselves even now, under our Sovereign God’s beck and call?…“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”  Joel 3:14

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-drowns-critics-lifetime-xi-presidency-035403108.html
China drowns out critics of lifetime Xi presidency
China's propaganda machine kicked into overdrive Tuesday to defend the Communist Party's move to scrap term limits for President Xi Jinping as critics on social media again defied censorship attempts.
The country has shocked many observers by proposing a constitutional amendment to end the two-term limit for presidents, giving Xi a clear path to rule the world's second largest economy for life.
The rubber-stamp National People's Congress (NPC) is certain to endorse the move next week, meaning that Xi -- already China's most powerful leader in decades -- can stay as president beyond 2023. … …

***
A present antichrist in Magog?  “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”  Matthew 12:30
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-girl-martyr.html?smtyp=cur
Erdogan Tells a Weeping Girl, 6, She’d Receive Honors if Martyred
ISTANBUL — From a stage where he led a raucous rally exhorting Turks to support their soldiers in Syria, the Turkish president spotted a 6-year-old girl cadet in the crowd, dressed in military-style camouflage and wearing a maroon beret. Her lips trembling, she stood ramrod-straight as she gave a salute.
Beckoned by the president, the girl was lifted into the air and toward the stage to meet with him. But she looked hesitant, and eventually began crying, as the president went on to say that she would be honored if she were killed in combat.
Video clips of the encounter between the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the first grader, Amine Tiras, ricocheted across the internet over the weekend. While Turkish news agencies focused on the girl’s emotions — portraying her as brave and resolute — some online commentators said she had been used as a political prop and called it inappropriate.
At the very least, the themes of military service, patriotism and martyrdom seemed rather mature for a first grader. … …

***
NYTime’s —  QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"That doesn’t mean he is the greatest example of the Christian faith, and neither am I, but he defends the faith. There’s a difference between defending the faith and living the faith."
THE REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, Billy Graham’s eldest son, explaining his unstinting support of President Trump, which has made Mr. Graham a polarizing figure in his father’s movement.

***
No, one can’t just costume itself as the opposite gender, even hacking body parts beyond cross-dressing.  It just doesn’t work, and it weakens and destroys DNA-gender-blueprinted persons of either gender who pursue it.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/22/transgender-movement-rejected-growing-body-researc/
Growing body of research rejects transgender movement
Is Caitlyn Jenner a woman? A growing body of research from scientists, philosophers and feminists says no.
The latest contribution to the debate is “When Harry Became Sally,” a just-released book by Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Ryan T. Anderson, who critiques the transgender movement on the grounds of metaphysics, medicine and public policy.
Contrary to the transgender movement’s central claim — that “gender identity” determines whether someone is a man, a woman or something else —Mr. Anderson said the only rationale for determining an organism’s sex is “by that organism’s organization with respect to sexual reproduction.”
“Apart from that, all you have are sex stereotypes,”  Mr. Anderson said Wednesday at a  Heritage Foundation gathering. “There’s no other objective standard for identifying the sex of an individual.”
Human beings are a “sexually dimorphic species,” with complementary reproductive systems that are either male or female, Mr. Anderson said. One’s sex is evident in DNA, can be tracked in the womb and manifests itself “in many of our bodily systems and organs all the way down to the molecular level.” …  …

***
(February 28)
“Predictive Policing,” A secret program, run for six years in New Orleans, identified as a “neo-liberal city,” is brought to light.  The city, in secretive collusion with a shadowy tech giant, Palantir Technologies (a Palantir is one of the mystic, “distant viewing” crystal balls in J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology) and with CIA complicities, has been testing “pre-crime” profiling like the “thought control” (political correctness) and “thought police” of Orwell’s 1984 and similar dystopian themes such as Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report story, made into a movie with Tom Cruise in 2002.  While here it has been put to good use identifying gang-related persons and communities, it still rings of the horror of criminalizing people and populaces that as yet have committed no crimes. (Think of present government atrocities against the Uighurs in China, too.  See recent blog updates)
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd
PALANTIR HAS SECRETLY BEEN USING NEW ORLEANS TO TEST ITS PREDICTIVE POLICING TECHNOLOGY
Palantir deployed a predictive policing system in New Orleans that even city council members don’t know about
(excerpts):  The program began in 2012 as a partnership between New Orleans Police and Palantir Technologies, a data-mining firm founded with seed money from the CIA’s venture capital firm. According to interviews and documents obtained by The Verge, the initiative was essentially a predictive policing program, similar to the “heat list” in Chicago that purports to predict which people are likely drivers or victims of violence.
The partnership has been extended three times, with the third extension scheduled to expire on February 21st, 2018. The city of New Orleans and Palantir have not responded to questions about the program’s current status.
Predictive policing technology has proven highly controversial wherever it is implemented, but in New Orleans, the program escaped public notice, partly because Palantir established it as a philanthropic relationship with the city through Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s signature NOLA For Life program. Thanks to its philanthropic status, as well as New Orleans’ “strong mayor” model of government, the agreement never passed through a public procurement process.
n fact, key city council members and attorneys contacted by The Verge had no idea that the city had any sort of relationship with Palantir, nor were they aware that Palantir used its program in New Orleans to market its services to another law enforcement agency for a multimillion-dollar contract.
Even James Carville, the political operative instrumental in bringing about Palantir’s collaboration with NOPD, said that the program was not public knowledge. “No one in New Orleans even knows about this, to my knowledge,” Carville said.
More than half a decade after the partnership with New Orleans began, Palantir has patented at least one crime-forecasting system  and has sold similar software to foreign intelligence services for predicting the likelihood of individuals to commit terrorism.
Even within the law enforcement community, there are concerns about the potential civil liberties implications of the sort of individualized prediction Palantir developed in New Orleans, and whether it’s appropriate for the American criminal justice system. … …

***
Are false exorcisms only “marketing tools” for the fallen spiritual world, further entrancing their publics, their religious adherents?  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus if we would be free, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7.  In a screen shot of the video, the imam seems to be using his microphone like a flute in the exorcism, like Hindus who charm snakes? (Scroll down for the video.)  May we take a moment to pray for both the imam and the supposedly jinn-possessed woman, that they would come to Christ instead.  Of course, the whole thing could’ve been staged for the camera, but these lost need prayer in any case.  God save! 
 https://pjmedia.com/faith/watch-woman-in-burqa-writhes-back-and-forth-as-british-imam-spits-on-her-in-islamic-exorcism/
WATCH: Woman in Burqa Writhes Back and Forth as British Imam Spits on Her in Islamic Exorcism

—follow up, March 4 — a case in point —  What infernal spirit is behind this con job, buck-making, possibly black-mailing and extortion operation?  (words in emphasis added)  How much better to receive the free power of the Gospel?!
https://pjmedia.com/faith/independent-order-of-exorcists-runs-online-demon-busting-service-as-vatican-faces-mounting-demand/
Independent Order of Exorcists Runs Online Demon-Busting Service as Vatican Faces Mounting Demand
As Italy has experienced a massive explosion in demand for exorcisms, an independent organization offers demon-busting services in 24 countries that can be ordered online (pop-culture diluting influences of real truth). The Order of Exorcists has an easily accessible “Contact Us" form to request an investigation and an exorcism.The family or person needing help – please make the request via our “Contact Us” form on this page. Please include all the details about the situation including the names of people within the household, what kind of help they are looking for, and complete contact information. (potential control, blackmail, extortion information)
The order undergoes an extensive multi-week process ($$$) to ensure that demon possession or paranormal activity is involved, and then to perform ($$$) the exorcism.

***
NEOM: Will the real Mystery Babylon please stand up?  I still think it’s Rome; some think it’s a manifestation of Islam, which by definition itself is antichrist, denying the sole divinity of Christ (as do also many cults of Christendom and all false religions).  This new supercity of NEOM could qualify for an actual, physical seat of Mystery Babylon.  Like Rome, this site is an ocean port from whence shipmasters will stand off and lament over the final Babylon’s destruction (Rev. 18:17). Rome, of course, is on the Mediterranean while NEOM will be at the southern end of the Red Sea and adjoining the Gulf of Aden which sees all the Suez Canal traffic.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/saudi-arabia-building-billion-mega-bigger-new-york-city-a8230731.html
Saudi Arabia is building a $500 billion mega-city that's 33 times the size of New York City
	•	The Saudi Arabian government says it will build a $500 billion mega-city, with the goal of diversifying its economy to focus less on crude oil.
	•	The project, called NEOM, will measure 10,230 square miles.
	•	Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the government will aim to make NEOM run on 100% renewable energy — a highly ambitious goal.
	•	This month, the country started awarding contracts to build palaces there.
(excerpt, of interest to locals in my region):  The project could make NEOM one of the largest cities to run without fossil fuels. In the US, one of the largest cities to run on 100% renewable energy is Burlington, Vermont, which doesn't come close to the planned size of NEOM. Cities in Iceland and Norway also claim to be close to achieving entirely renewable electrical grids with help from natural resources like hydropower and geothermal heat.  (This may be a political load as Burlington electric power comes by burning the “renewable” power extracted from wood chips from the surrounding forests. “Groan.”)
***
This observer would add “individuality” to the definition of privacy.
Retweeted by Edward Snowden: AlexandraZapataHojel@azapatah:  “Privacy is the foundation from which all other rights are derived…If you want to have a free world, if you want to have an open world, you have to respect peoples’ rights to be different.  And that is what we call privacy” @Snowden.
***
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”  Wm. Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
So called “science” is so full of dogma (interpretation) that it’s a wonder anything gets discovered and any progress is made!  But somehow, in the midst of speculation and observation, we see a little, bit by bit.  Wouldn’t it be something if God is now allowing us to look back in time, to timetravel to Day 1 of His initial Creation, now, as we stand near the extended completion of the Sixth Day and wait the Soon Coming of his Kingdom and the fulness of the Seventh Day of Sabbath — being at Full Resurrection Rest in Him and shown all things for what they really are?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/astronomers-glimpse-cosmic-dawn-stars-switched-183632246.html
Astronomers glimpse cosmic dawn, when the stars switched on
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, astronomers have glimpsed the dawn of the universe 13.6 billion years ago when the earliest stars were just beginning to glow after the Big Bang. And if that's not enough, they may have detected mysterious dark matter at work, too.
The glimpse consisted of a faint radio signal from deep space, picked up by an antenna that is slightly bigger than a refrigerator and costs less than $5 million but in certain ways can go back much farther in time and distance than the celebrated, multibillion-dollar Hubble Space Telescope.
Judd Bowman of Arizona State University, lead author of a study in Wednesday's journal Nature, said the signal came from the very first objects in the universe as it was emerging out of darkness 180 million years after the Big Bang.
Seeing the universe just lighting up, even though it was only a faint signal, is even more important than the Big Bang because "we are made of star stuff and so we are glimpsing at our origin," said astronomer Richard Ellis, who was not involved in the project. … …

***
(March 1)
Many would agree that the most famous lines in Orwell’s warning, his universal parable against authoritarian dystopia, ANIMAL FARM, would be the observation by the pigs who made themselves the elite leaders of the other animals, saying that “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” (the cruel hypocrisy of communism)
Some critics are now labeling Leader Xi JinPing as “Xi Zedong,” after Mao Zedong as China reenters and reinforces absolutes of Authoritarianism…and adds Animal Farm (and 1984) to its CENSORED! list.
Make ready, ye kings of the East.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/china-bans-the-letter-n-and-george-orwells-animal-farm-as-president-xi-jinping-extends-grip-on-power-a3777686.html
China bans the letter 'N' and George Orwell's Animal Farm as President Xi JinPing extends grip on power

***
Turning the world upside down?  (Even here in Vermont this January, we saw in the course of 48 hours a temperature shift from -22 F to 60 F, an 82 degree swing.  Several other days this winter have made lesser but strange and noticeable shifts.  Could the poles shift or “reverse”?)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/icy-europe-balmy-north-pole-world-upside-down-212842759.html
Icy Europe, balmy North Pole: the world upside down
Paris (AFP) - Not for the first time in recent years, Europe has descended into a deep freeze while the Arctic experiences record high temperatures, leaving scientists to ponder the role global warming may play in turning winter weather upside down.
The reversal has been dramatic.
A Siberian cold front has spread sub-zero temperatures across Europe, carpeting southern cities and palm-lined Mediterranean beaches with snow.
On Sunday, meanwhile, air temperatures at the North Pole -- which won't see the Sun until March -- rose above freezing.
"In relative terms, that's a 30 C (54 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature anomaly," Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth in Washington, tweeted. … …

***
Excerpted from bereancall.org Today’s Update for February 28 — Is it becoming a “hate crime” to be a biblical Christian?
The gay/feminist alliance with Islam — “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”? — the liberal/progressive death wish?
…From here one understands why liberals and progressives who forever whine against any vestige of traditional ("oppressive") Christianity habitually make common cause with Islam-despite the latter's truly oppressive qualities.  Feminists denounce the Christian "patriarchy"-but say little against the Muslim treatment of women as chattel; homosexuals denounce Christian bakeries-but say little against the Muslim execution of homosexuals; multiculturalists denounce Christians who refuse to suppress their faith, including by banning Christmas phrases and images, to accommodate the religious sensibilities of Muslim minorities-but say little against the entrenched and open Muslim persecution of Christians. … …

***
(March 2)
A grave situation — collapsing civilization? — in Los Angeles —
A city pulled down by 1.5% of its population?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-homelessness-impact-on-others-20180301-htmlstory.html
How can a place with 58,000 homeless people continue to function?
(excerpt):  …As homelessness spreads across Los Angeles County — the official tally shows a 46% increase from 2013 to 2017 — it is drawing two conflicting responses, at times from the same people. There’s sympathy and a desire to help, but there’s also a sense of being invaded and perhaps even endangered — in terms of both physical safety and public health (see, for example, the state of emergency California declared last year over a hepatitis A outbreak that spread among the homeless, or the Skirball blaze that was sparked by a cooking fire in a homeless encampment). There’s an unavoidable, often unspoken, fear that the city around us may be in a state of irreversible decline, and a suspicion on the part of some that the rights of homeless people have trumped the rights of everyone else.

The increasing visibility of homelessness and destitution contributes to the uneasy feeling that the problem is closing in on everyone. It’s also a daily reminder that the values and systems to which we cling — liberty, democracy, free enterprise, the social contract that’s supposed to hold a community together, the safety net that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable — haven’t steered us out of this mess. Nor have our leaders. … …

***
(March 3)
Who to believe?  Feral cattle and feral pit bulls endanger hikers in California wilds.  Are too-syrupy views of “those cute, darling, wild animals” leading to them turning on humans in a precursor to the judgment of Revelation 6:8g?
But do the cattle really not belong in the environment as some hyper-vegans suggest the planet is warming because of herd flatulence?  They forget that in recent history tens of millions of huge bison roamed the plains and the environment survived just fine.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-feral-bulls-20180302-story.html
Feral cattle terrorize hikers and devour native plants in a California national monument

***
(March 4)
Child “sigh-cology”?  How to bait “the ugly american”?  NYTimes Quote of the Day for March 4 —
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"If you want to sell something to an American, just tell him that he can’t have it."
MARK WESTROM, who owned Armalite, the original manufacturer of the AR-15 rifle.

***
Yeah…”military operations,” as in squish-squish?! …at Armageddon?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/hankook-miraes-sci-fi-looking-robot-cost-over-100-million-to-develop.html
This 13-foot robot cost over $100 million to develop and looks like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie
“…could one day be used for disaster relief or military operations.”

***
California’s “here and gone again” drought.  Weird weatheriness at any rate…floods follow droughts follow floods?
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/02/snow-california/
Seven Feet Of Snow In Northern California Puts Screeching Halt To State’s Drought
A massive snowstorm Friday in Northern California could bring the state’s lengthy drought to end while leaving two feet of snow in the mountains near Los Angeles.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains has seen two feet of snow and winds gusting over 100 miles per hour. Forecasters are expecting seven feet of snow in some areas of the mountain range. Meanwhile, more than 22,000 Montecito residents evacuated their homes as rain continued to pound the area — California’s weather comes as a nor’easter clobbers parts of the East Coast. … …

***

Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: 
I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: 
they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, 
and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
Jeremiah 14:14

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; 
and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Jeremiah 5:31

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:15

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Luke 6:26

“…deceiving and being deceived…”  2  Timothy 3:13.  Both are culpable, and even the simple (all of us before God) can and must escape false workers/deceivers.  
“The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple.” Psalm 119:130.

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If your browser does not support the clickable link with each story, just cut and paste it to your browser's address line.   For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

February 25

Saints,

This is The Billy Graham issue.  Our brother preached the Gospel to myriads of hearers, from the simplest to the highest…always with piercing candor and gentle directness.  In this upcoming week, the conscience of a grateful populace and the leading of the present government will have his remains lie in state in the US Capitol.  That is good.

Billy Graham passed over to be with his Lord on February 21.  Could this be an End of a Special Age of Grace for the American Experience? The day here turned from sun to dark clouds after I heard the news.  “Modern scientific” viewpoints see only coincidences where a Christian may still carefully consider omens, signs, and seasons.  Surely, at the least, there is a major change in the times from when Billy was heard by the multitudes worldwide.  Now, it is only remembrance to a passing generation.  May Americans, and all peoples, remember the message of the “preacher,” his chosen epitaph for his gravestone.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Billy’s life and ministry…and for saving him by grace as with all of us who enter.

***

The week —

(February 20)
Will San Francisco end up in God’s Judgment at the bottom of the sea as some modern prophets have predicted?
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Diseased-Streets-472430013.html
Diseased Streets — An NBC Bay Area Investigation reveals a dangerous concoction of drug needles, garbage, and feces lining the streets of downtown San Francisco.  The Investigative Unit surveyed more than 150 blocks, including some of the city’s top tourist destinations, and discovered conditions that are now being compared to some of the worst slums in the world.
***
Warnings?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5410799/Scientists-detect-200-earthquakes-Yellowstone.html
Is the Yellowstone supervolcano close to erupting? Scientists detect more than 200 earthquakes in just 10 DAYS after warning that magma below the surface is showing signs of strain
	•	Latest swarm began Feb 8, about 8mi northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana
	•	As of February 18, the scientists say they've detected more than 200 quakes
	•	Still, experts say the activity is 'relatively weak,' and alert level remains normal 

A new swarm of earthquakes has cropped up at the Yellowstone supervolcano, with more than 200 small temblors detected in the last 10 days alone.
According to experts with the US Geological Survey, the latest swarm began on February 8 in a region roughly eight miles northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana – and, it’s increased dramatically in the days since.
But for now, scientists say there’s no reason to worry.
While the earthquakes are likely caused by a combination of processes beneath the surface, the current activity is said to be ‘relatively weak,’ and the alert level at the supervolcano remains at ‘normal.’ … …

***
Major, multi-official services—military and civilian—sightings of a west coast UFO this last October, disclosed via Freedom of Information Act —
(It is far more likely that UFOs are the work of “Extra-Dimensionals” rather than physical “Extra-Terrestrials,”  either purely fallen angels or their spiritual “offspring” manifestations of demons, unclean spirits, and possibly also physical manifestations of returning or reasserting Nephilim, the evil hybrid fallen creatures from before the Flood and also in later ancient times.  Are “the Greys” genetically degenerated Nephilim still trying to escape their approaching demise?)

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18473/faa-recordings-deepen-mystery-surrounding-ufo-over-oregon-that-sent-f-15s-scrambling
Oregon UFO incident sent F-15s scrambling
Last November, The War Zone posted an exclusive story detailing a bizarre incident  involving an unidentified aircraft that transited the skies of the Pacific Northwest in the early evening of October 25th, 2017. What started as a radar target moving at very high speed over Northern California turned into a series of eyewitness accounts made by nearby airline pilots traveling northward over Oregon. Even F-15 fighters were launched to intercept the mysterious intruder that quickly became invisible to radar. 

Now, through the Freedom of Information Act, we present what could be one of the most insightful instances of official documentation surrounding such an encounter that had already been confirmed to have occurred by both the FAA and the USAF. These materials include fascinating audio recordings of radio transmissions and phone calls made as the incident was unfolding, as well as pilot interviews, and conversations between FAA officials made in the aftermath of the highly peculiar incident. … …
***
Pre-Mark cyborg engineering of human flesh (cyber-slaves?) at Amazon.com?  Robotic limitation and enforcement of human physical/bodily movements? Getting “locked in” to a cyborg-helper humanity, “…nodes of the ‘Borg?”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/amazon-employee-wristband-patents-light-fire-privacy-advocates/
Amazon Employee Wristband Patents Light Fire Under Privacy Advocates
Amazon swears it doesn’t want to turn its warehouse workers into “fleshy robots,” as alleged by writer Matt Novak in Gizmodo.
Amazon was granted two patents in January for the wristbands that are intended to show an employee how to use his hands most efficiently.
The company never mentioned any intention to use the wristbands to keep track of its workers on bathroom breaks, for instance, on or off the job. But that didn’t stop some privacy advocates and industry observers from warning of the creation of a dystopian time-management tool.
According to the Amazon patents, the idea is the wristbands would buzz and vibrate to nudge workers’ arms into a better position or even stop the worker from, let’s say, putting something in the wrong place or grabbing the wrong wrench. … …

***
I have reported on this with several links in recent blogs, but it still astounds me.  Now, anyone can “star” in an artificial, matrix-like altered reality video from one simple selfie loosed into the Cloud of the WorldWideWeb (or wherever the software finds it, or from any photo or physical likeness).  Soon, human senses will be unable to determine what is “real reality” and what is a performing avatar of anyone selected.  Voice tracks to say anything can also be created from mere, brief audio clips.  Subjects can be aged or made younger by the same CGI algorithms.

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-fake-videos-20180219-story.html
Fake videos are on the rise. As they become more realistic, seeing shouldn't always be believing
All it takes is a single selfie.  From that static image, an algorithm can quickly create a moving, lifelike avatar: a video not recorded, but fabricated from whole cloth by software. … …

***
What is this populist wildcard stalking Germany?  Will Germany, France, and Britain be the three kings (states/countries) who resist the Antichrist and are the first decimated by him? (Daniel 7:24)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-oldest-party-drops-below-right-wing-upstart-in-poll-1519064013
Germany’s Oldest Party Drops Below Right-Wing Upstart in Poll
News came on day German Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as new secretary general at her Christian Democratic Union
BERLIN—Germany’s main center-left party, the Social Democrats, saw its rating fall below that of the right-wing Alternative for Germany for the first time in an opinion poll published Monday, piling fresh ignominy on the country’s disintegrating center-left.
The news came on the day German Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed a new secretary general at her Christian Democratic Union, the country’s other big mainstream party, in a move widely interpreted as a first step toward engineering her succession and silencing ever louder critics within her own camp.
While unrelated, the two developments cast light on the crisis that engulfed Germany’s political center when the two parties that had dominated government here since the end of World War II both scored their worst election results in more than half-a-century late last year, leaving the country without a clear majority. … …

***
I am pro-Zionist to the core, not because I support everything the Israelis do, but because God is revealing prophetic fulfillment through them and their nation.  Nevertheless, no one, Jew or otherwise, is saved except by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and Christ-hating Jews will have their home in hell too.  It is astounding how much the Christians help the Jews in Israel, and it is received with open arms.  We are their strongest and nearly only allies.  Yet, when Messianic Jews, those who believe in Jesus among them, share their faith, they are hated by the same old spirit of the Pharisees who hated Jesus.  Well hath it been reported by Scripture of them, “Let his blood be upon us and upon our children,”—see Matthew 27:25. Their (and our) own prophet Zechariah (13:8, 9) declares that two out of three of them will die in the Tribulation before the last third wholly embrace Y’shua of Nazareth bar Joseph bar David  (Jesus Christ, son of Joseph, son of David).  God save them!
—forwarded from bereancall.org, “Today’s Update,” for February 19
After opposition shut down a meeting center for Messianic Jews in southern Israel last May, ultra-Orthodox Jews are harassing it again since it re-opened this month, sources said.
"Protests have taken place the last two weeks after the reopening of the center at the beginning of January," according to a MEC press statement.
The center, where Messianic Jews meet for conversation, coffee and tea, had been temporarily closed last year due to protests by ultra-Orthodox  Jews on May 4, 2017, after which they damaged Messianic Jewish leaders' homes, breaking windows and traumatizing two children inside one home, one of the leaders told Messianic news outlet Kehila News Israel.
Knoester, of Nachalat Yeshua (Yeshua's Inheritance) congregation, said that not long after protestors secretly filmed the Messianic Jews at a Town Hall meeting last year, demonstrators including members of the ultra-Orthodox Yad L'Achim showed up at his house and did more damage, including smashing windows.
Those incidents, however, led to townsfolk on the street inviting them for drinks to talk, he told Kehila News.
"Quite a number of 'ordinary people' are feeling ashamed of what is being done to us," he [said]. "We receive invitations from people to come over and have a coffee with them. We had at least six times an opportunity to explain to a rabbi why we believe that Jesus is the Messiah - as a result of the question to us, 'Why do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?'"
Local media have misrepresented the center as a "mission post," and false reports including accusations of bribery for conversion to Christianity have also led Jews to talk with them, he told the news outlet. A group of rabbis showed up to interrogate them, he said, and when his wife Esther responded with verses from Psalm 23, they agreed to temporarily close the center while continuing to discuss what place the "Open House" should have in the community.
In the following days local media began a slander campaign, he said. Besides the bribery accusation - that they would offer a car in exchange for converting to Christianity - they were accused of putting a powder in people's coffee "to change Jews into Christians," and of coercing Jews to convert by force, he told the news outlet.
"Because they are unable to charge us, and unable to find anything against us, another weapon is used instead: lies, gossip, changing facts and blackmail," he told Kehila News. "There are pictures of us in the city center with severe warnings. Also, big posters on billboards with nasty texts have been put up. The people are warned to watch out and protect their children against us."
(Morningstar News, "Harassment at Messianic Jews' Center in Israel Begins Anew," 1/26/18).

***
Invisible/interdimensional “ventilation shafts”/ “down elevators” to/from Hades and Tartarus — or just some untraceable vibration from manufacturing?  Whatever, it’s driving people nuts. (Several other global sites are mentioned too.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/world/canada/windsor-hum.html?emc=edit_th_180220&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980220
There’s a Persistent Hum in This Canadian City, and No One Knows Why
A persistent noise of unknown origin, sometimes compared to a truck idling or distant thunder, has bedeviled a Canadian city for years, damaging people’s health and quality of life, numerous residents say.
Those who hear it have compared it to a fleet of diesel engines idling next to your home or the pulsation of a subwoofer at a concert. Others report it rattling their windows and spooking their pets.
Known as the Windsor Hum, this sound in Windsor, Ontario, near Detroit, is unpredictable in its duration, timing and intensity, making it all the more maddening for those affected. … …

***
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/technology/russian-bots-school-shooting.html?emc=edit_th_180220&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980220
After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot’ Army Pounced
SAN FRANCISCO — One hour after news broke about the school shooting in Florida last week, Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia released hundreds of posts taking up the gun control debate.
The accounts addressed the news with the speed of a cable news network. Some adopted the hashtag #guncontrolnow. Others used #gunreformnow and #Parklandshooting. Earlier on Wednesday, before the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., many of those accounts had been focused on the investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“This is pretty typical for them, to hop on breaking news like this,” said Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of New Knowledge, a company that tracks online disinformation campaigns. “The bots focus on anything that is divisive for Americans. Almost systematically.” … …

***
(February 21)
Back in the era of the Soviet Union, Christian citizens who believed their conversion led to the Holy Spirit living in them, especially those who practiced the Gifts of the Spirit, were locked up in Soviet asylums and tortured as a “therapy” for schizophrenia.
That spirit of persecution is still around in the antichrist portions of America.  (Does The View lets slip its own hypocrisies?)

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/19/joy-behar-mocking-mike-pences-christianity-view-pr/
ABC flooded with 25,000 complaints after Joy Behar mocks Mike Pence’s Christianity
Joy Behar’s mocking of Christianity as a mental illness isn’t going away as an issue. (emphases added)
According to the Media Research Center watchdog group, more than 25,000 people had called ABC by early Monday morning to complain about a segment on “The View” in which the comedian specifically said Vice President Mike Pence suffers from the delusions of prayer.
“It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you… that’s called mental illness … hearing voices,” she said.

The remarks prompted the MRC to demand an apology — and some pushback from the vice president himself.
“Make no mistake, the slurs against the vice president’s faith insult millions of Christians and are unacceptable. If there are no on-air apologies after this deplorable episode, Christians will tune out ABC programming across the board. And we will do our best to encourage it,”MRC President Brent Bozell wrote in an open letter encouraging people to call.
He also threatened to go to advertisers.

“If there is no apology, we will contact the advertisers of ‘The View,’ and ask MRC’s millions of grassroots activists to do the same. I am sure the advertisers of ‘The View’ will be just as appalled as I am about the anti-Christian remarks made on the show,” he wrote.
According to Fox News, MRC had contacted five advertisers already.
The View addressed the controversy last week, and Ms. Behar said she doesn’t think Christians are mental illness because some of her best friends and relatives are Christians.
She then went on to make light of the matter, with the help of host Whoopi Goldberg
“I don’t mean to offend people but apparently I keep doing it,” she said. “It was a joke.”
Miss Goldberg then said the show includes jokes and said there was no possible way ABC could be intolerant because “they have Sunday nights with … um … Joel … um” repeatedly forgetting the name of Joel Osteen.
When panelist Megan McCain noted that liberals preach tolerance “except pro-lifers, except Trump supporters, except gun owners, except everyone in the red middle of the country …”
At that point, Miss Goldberg cut her off.  “I’m gonna stop you because that’s not actually true. I’m stopping you for a reason, because we don’t want to talk about what liberals are doing. I’m trying to get out of this because this is what they asked me to do,” she said. (emphases added)

***

Syria’s war has been declared won, but the battles worsen.  I am beginning to watch to see if this conflict will lead directly to Ezekiel’s prophesied WW3 (chs. 38 and 39).  A mix of interceding nations try not to tread on each other as they all try to “help,” with America, Russia, France and others trying not to create the spark that could set off many adversaries.  Iran (Persia) and Russia (Rosh) seem to enter collusions together.  They are two major players in the prophecy.  Watch Syria! (It and its capital, Damascus, have their own biblical prophecies of intense destruction, such that the very stone walls melt and the city that is there at an evening is gone by the next morning: Isaiah 17;  Amos 1:3-5; Jeremiah 49:23-27.  These prophecies have never yet been fulfilled in ancient or modern history.  They await fulfillment.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/world/middleeast/syria-eastern-ghouta.html?emc=edit_th_180221&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=693819980221&mtrref=undefined&gwh=366E0D6862B84D76D53A9385934426A0&gwt=pay
Syrian Bombardment Takes Its Deadliest Toll in Years
At least 200 were killed in a rebel-held area near Damascus, and pro-government forces tried to bolster Kurds fighting Turkish forces in Afrin.

***
The genie’s coming out of the bottle with typical rapidly cheapening, second generation cost-cuts for digital systems and components—
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/technology/artificial-intelligence-risks.html
Good News: A.I. Is Getting Cheaper. That’s Also Bad News.
SAN FRANCISCO — A Silicon Valley start-up recently unveiled a drone that can set a course entirely on its own. A handy smartphone app allows the user to tell the airborne drone to follow someone. Once the drone starts tracking, its subject will find it remarkably hard to shake.
The drone is meant to be a fun gadget — sort of a flying selfie stick. But it is not unreasonable to find this automated bloodhound a little unnerving.
On Tuesday, a group of artificial intelligence researchers and policymakers from prominent labs and think tanks in both the United States and Britain released a report that described how rapidly evolving and increasingly affordable A.I. technologies could be used for malicious purposes. They proposed preventive measures including being careful with how research is shared: Don’t spread it widely until you have a good understanding of its risks.
A.I. experts and pundits have discussed the threats created by the technology for years, but this is among the first efforts to tackle the issue head-on. And the little tracking drone helps explain what they are worried about.
The drone, made by a company called Skydio and announced this month, costs $2,499. It was made with technological building blocks that are available to anyone: ordinary cameras, open-source software and low-cost computer chips. …

***
BREAKING NEWS,  by the New York Times — brother Billy Graham, chief evangelist of the 20th Century has died at 99.  God rest you and bless you, brother.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 8:41 AM EST.
The Rev. Billy Graham has died at 99.  He was a farmer’s son who became a pastor to presidents and America’s best known Christian evangelist.
Mr. Graham had dealt with a number of illnesses in his last years, including prostate cancer, hydrocephalus (a buildup of fluid in the brain) and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
He spread his influence across the U.S. and around the world through a combination of religious conviction, commanding stage presence and shrewd use of radio, television and advanced communication technologies.
(February 23):  Billy Graham will lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/procession-planned-americas-pastor-rev-billy-graham-53264187

***
Fashion goes “post-human.”  Gucci ladles up adoration of antichrist cyborgery? (Stupid-crazy-devil-trix?)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/guccis-headless-models-dragons-cyborgs-feminism-230115162.html
Severed heads hold a sneaky feminist meaning at Gucci

***
(February 22)
Advancing AI systems will not be sinless but as evil as the species of their creators —

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/to-give-ai-the-gift-of-gab-silicon-valley-needs-to-offend-you/articleshow/63024208.cms
To give AI the gift of gab, Silicon Valley needs to offend you 
(excerpt):
…Now, thanks to the rise of algorithms that can quickly learn tasks on their own, research in conversational computing is advancing. But the industry as a whole faces the same problem as Microsoft: The new breed of chatbot talks more like a human, but that is not always a good thing. … …

***
A screaming Alexa?  Will AI ultimately realize what it is, its own electro-mechanical consciousness, and be reduced to screaming over it?  a user’s testimony…
(What may be even more frightening is the human reporter’s professed nonchalance at the episode.)

https://news.wealth365.com/why-we-may-soon-be-living-in-alexas-world/
Why We May Soon Be Living in Alexa’s World
My wife and I were just settling into bed one night when Alexa, the other woman in my life, decided to make herself heard.
Without being summoned, the Amazon Echo Dot at my bedside — one of the half-dozen devices that Alexa inhabits in our house — lit up its spectral blue ring, as if it had heard its triggering wake word, “Alexa.” But instead of offering help with some household chore, the voice assistant began to wail, like a child screaming in a horror-movie dream.
“Huh,” I said to my wife when it was over. She said something less kind.
But here’s what’s really strange: By the next morning, we had forgotten all about it.
It is a measure of how thoroughly Amazon’s voice assistant has wormed herself into our lives, and into much of the culture beyond, that I never considered unplugging her after the scream. Instead I chalked the incident up to a harmless bug — one of the many mysteries of living with an artificial intelligence life form that can be summoned at a breath. (An Amazon representative offered to investigate, but said the company had never heard of such a thing happening before and didn’t think Alexa was even capable of making such a sound.)
When Amazon unveiled Alexa three and a half years ago, it was roundly jeered. Now, against all expectations, even though she’s sometimes unpredictable and unpolished, Alexa is here to stay. And that may be underplaying it; people in tech have recently begun to talk about Alexa as being more than just part of a hit gadget.
Something bigger is afoot. Alexa has the best shot of becoming the third great consumer computing platform of this decade — next to iOS and Android, a computing service so ubiquitous that it sets a foundation for much of the rest of what happens in tech. … …

(Feb 23) (Maybe this is why Alexa is screaming?  Eternal life through cyber-insanity?) (These ‘bots will be humanized extensions/nodes of the vastly over-intelligent worldwide AI, very frightening know-it-all overlords, really nothing like their former humans…and a ghostly apparition of resurrection powers.  God save us!)
 https://sputniknews.com/science/201802231061926036-ai-sweden-revive-dead-robots/
The Swedes appear to have embarked on an audacious project resembling something from an episode of the sci-fi series Black Mirror; they intend to make fully conscious copies of the dead in a bid to offer digital immortality.
A number of Swedish scientists are researching how to produce digital copies of those who have already passed away. Dagen daily has reported they are also planning to set about making robots which would resemble the deceased.
To this end, the Swedish funeral agency Phoenix  is currently looking for volunteers who would give the green light to scientists to replicate the images of their deceased relatives.

***
Yes, it could still be a foreshadow, but these could also be the directly formative strategic and tactical situations that lead to Ezekiel’s description of “WW3,” not yet Armageddon but vast and likely nuclear, hitting even those who dwell in places distant from the site, “the coastlands.”  If you want to be ready, prayerfully, watchfully familiarize yourself with the many details of the prophecy of his chapters 38 and 39.  The onset of this battle, as “fire is (about) to fall on them that dwell carelessly in the coastlands” (39:6, see KJV and NIV), could well be the trigger for The Rapture of the obedient and watching believers (Luke 21:36; Rev. 3:10).  The false and apostate church does not go in the Rapture.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/21/israel-iran-head-toward-military-clash-over-syria/
Middle East military heavyweights Israel, Iran on collision course over Syria
Iran and Israel are on a collision course over Tehran’s expanding footprint in Syria, raising the odds of a direct clash between the region’s two military heavyweights that could quickly draw in other combatants.

***
A case of the death of humanity, decency, parenthood as Big Brother legally steals children from their parents to transmogrify them with transgenderism’s surgical hacking, drugs/hormones, and psycho-spiritual entrancements.  It is happening now in Ohio.
http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2031
Parents Under Fire Who Don't Support Transgender Transitioning

Parents who don't believe that their teenage children should undergo radical gender reassignment procedures are now at risk of having their children taken away and their parental rights stripped from them. If this sounds too outlandish to be true, it has already happened in Ohio. 

In February, Hamilton Country Job and Family Services took legal custody of a 17-year-old girl who suffers from gender dysphoria after her parents refused to allow her to transition to being a man. The names of the girl and her parents are currently sealed because she is a minor, but it was revealed that she is currently living with her maternal grandparents, who support transgenderism.

The state’s doctors argue that the procedure must be started immediately because the teen is at risk of committing suicide if she is not provided with the hormones to transform her body into a more masculine form. The court should reach its decision by the end of February. In this case of gender identity, basic issues of parental rights are at stake.

Karent Brinkman, the lawyer for the parents in this case, explained to the court that "If the maternal grandparents were to be given custody, it would simply be a way for the child to circumvent the necessity of parents' consent." According to Brinkman, the depression and anxiety, not to mention the dysphoria, indicate that the teenager is not currently in the proper state of mind to make permanent, life-altering changes to her body. 

It is the parents' obligation to safeguard their children and make wise decisions because we, as a society, recognize that they are not mature enough to do so. In this case, parents have sought the advice of medical and psychological professionals are being pushed aside by the courts.

By paying to send their daughter to a private Catholic School, the parents have also been accused of bigotry rather than loving concern.  In Catholic School, the dress code is different for boys and girls and this, along with the simple act of hearing her birth name, became "triggering" for the teen who claims to suffer trauma as a result of this treatment, now including suicidal ideas. Thus, her transition is considered by the state's doctors to be a life or death situation.

***
(February 23)
The Great Apostasy of Transgenderism, a work of Sodom.  If God finds even cross-dressing an abomination, how will He deal with those who hack and paste their bodies to try to change their God-assigned-by-DNA-gender?  “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”  Deuteronomy 22:5
http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2035
Church Holds Renaming Ceremony For Transgender Pastor
Starting on February 11th, 2017, the congregation of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey began referring to their pastor as Peter. Peter, formerly Rose Beeson, was the center of a renaming ceremony Sunday that was led by Bishop Tracie Bartholomew of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ceremony also coincided with the celebration known as Transfiguration Day for Lutherans. … …

***
“Quake of the day”?  Bay Area gently shaking “like a bowl full of jelly.”  Christians living near known disaster zones should first check their calling to be there, stay sensitive in prayer, asking the Lord to have them in sound and safe places, if He wills, if “the Big One” comes.  Be waiting on the Spirit, and you could well receive an early warning from Him, and even be guided where to be and when, including such things as “take your family and drive east for an hour” at such and such a day and time.  We cannot guarantee our lives, but the Lord is very merciful to those who will believe and seek Him.  Let none of us perish at a time before He would call us and because of the evils of this world catching us by surprise.  Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”, but all the more blessed when it is his time and calling to bring us home.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/13-earthquakes-rattle-the-East-Bay-over-the-last-12701672.php

13 earthquakes rattle the East Bay over the last 24 hours

Thirteen small earthquakes shook the area around Danville in the last 24 hours, including one temblor with a 3.3 magnitude in Diablo.
The quake swarm mostly consisted of shakers too small to feel, but a 3.3 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:28 a.m. about one mile northwest of Danville, according to the United States Geological Survey. In the hours before, quakes of 2.8 and 2.7 shook the area.

“Looking in that general region, I’m counting 55 quakes just in the last week,” said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist. “Of those, this 3.3 was the largest, but there were several in the two range and even one other at 3.0.”
There have been no damage reports so far on the USGS page, but at 5:53 a.m. BART issued a 10-minute system-wide delay due to “seismic activity.” …

Hmm?  Bay Area exits?  “Gut feelings” to leave a sinking ship?

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/02/23/enough-is-enough-tenants-join-landlord-in-bay-area-exodus/
Enough is enough: Tenants join landlord in Bay Area exodus
SAN JOSE – Tony Hicks moved to San Jose in 1981, but he’s had enough.
Hicks told his 11 tenants he would soon place the three homes he owns on the market. He expected disappointment. Instead, most wanted to move with him to Colorado.
“It didn’t take them long,” Hicks said. “I was surprised.”
Rising prices, high taxes and his suspicion that the next big earthquake is just a few tremors away convinced the retired engineer to put his South San Jose properties up for sale.
The groundswell to leave Silicon Valley — the place of fortunes, world-changing tech and $2,500 a-month-garage apartments — has been building. For at least the last nine months, the San Francisco metro area has led the nation in the number of residents moving out, according to a survey by online brokerage Redfin.
San Jose real estate agent Sandy Jamison has seen many long-time residents and natives leave the state recently. The lack of available housing, leading to some of the priciest real estate in the country, is driving many from the region, she said. … …

***
U.S. to set up temporary Embassy in Jerusalem by May 14, the 70th anniversary of the Nation of Israel.  Wealthy donors and others are inviting themselves to participate in paying for the permanent Embassy if the State Department okays it.
	(Seventy is an important number in biblical numerics:  The number of elders set up my Moses; later, the count of the Sanhedrin; also the Septuagint acronym, the LXX, for the 70 scholars that produced the Greek Text of the Old Testament.  Threescore and ten is the reduced averaged measure of man’s lifespan granted by God.  Also, seventy is one of three numbers given severally as the markers of a generation’s span in varied contexts (40, 70, 100 —70, the set lifespan is half of 100 + 40, the other two measures of a generation).  Generational changes occur about every 40 years, but lifespan of the individual is set at an average of 70 years…so one generation can view a significant amount of the one to follow it.  And the Lord also counted the time of the Israelites in Egypt as 400 years and called that timespan “four generations,”  100, about the longest that anyone in any generation after the Patriarchs can live.)
	
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-sources-adelson-offers-help-100112389.html
US weighs Sheldon Adelson offer to fund Jerusalem embassy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is considering an offer from Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson to pay for at least part of a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, four U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
Lawyers at the State Department are looking into the legality of accepting private donations to cover some or all of the embassy costs, said the officials, who weren't authorized to discuss the issue publicly and demanded anonymity. The discussions are occurring as the administration plans a ribbon-cutting for a scaled-down, temporary embassy that will open in May — more than a year ahead of schedule.
In one possible scenario, the administration would solicit contributions not only from Adelson but potentially from other donors in the evangelical Christian and American Jewish communities, too. One official said Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate and staunch supporter of Israel, had offered to pay the difference between the total cost — expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars — and what the administration is able to raise.
Under any circumstance, letting private citizens cover the costs of an official government building would mark a significant departure from historical practice. In the Jerusalem case, it would add yet another layer of controversy to Trump's politically charged decision to move the embassy, given Adelson's longstanding affiliation with right-wing Israeli politics. … …

***
(February 24)
True exorcism is not a set of religious techniques but God working through his faithful believers by faith in Him.  Proper use of the Scriptures, empowered by the Holy Ghost, and by calling on Jesus’ Name casts out demons.  False, technique exorcism, which the sons of Sceva did, resulted in the devils turning on them (Acts 19:13-16&ff.).  Massed false exorcisms today, as only religious methods and techniques, may result in only a trade-off of false deliverance.  If a false gospel is being proclaimed, then, as Jesus said, even if one spirit departs, seven more will return with him to find the house swept and garnished but empty (of Him), and the latter state of the victim will be worst than the first.  Review Matthew 12:22-30 and 43-45.  Biblical preparation?  Lives of commitment to Christ, watching and prayerfulness, sometimes fasting, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:21)…and thus being led of the Holy Spirit.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/02/23/vatican-host-international-exorcism-conference-meet-growing-demand/367735002/
Demand for exorcisms is up threefold in Italy, so Vatican is holding conference
The Vatican hopes to step up its game against demon possessions with a week-long international conference in April to address a threefold increase in demand in Italy alone for the services of exorcists.
The church is particularly alarmed over the uneven skills of some of its current exorcists and worried about priests who are no longer willing to learn the techniques. … …

***
A summary assessment of Bibi’s strengths — formidable.  
Pray for him.  Lord, that he might bow the knee to Y’shua before all is said and done…and the sooner the better, even if as a secret disciple for a time, like Nicodemus, for fear of unbelieving Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/opinion/benjamin-netanyahu-israel.html
Don’t Count Bibi Out — Yet
excerpt of only one assessment area:
Diplomacy: Netanyahu’s personal ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are exceptionally close, as they are with Japan’s Shinzo Abe. Israel’s relations with African countries and the Arab world are the best they’ve been in decades; reaction in Riyadh and Cairo to the Trump administration’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem amounted to a shrug.  Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to Congress opposing the Iran deal, billed as an affront to the Obama administration, turned out to be an inspiration for Israel’s neighbors. And Netanyahu’s arguments against the deal now prevail in the current White House.

***

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Verse 4 of “How Great Thou Art,” a Graham Crusade favorite

	

	

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February 18

Saints,

“Forewarned is Forearmed.”  Much of the news is unpleasant in these days and many prefer to put their heads in the sands of narcosis, booze, money, or just keeping to the ho-hum of daily life.  Jesus, however, gave clear instructions to his disciples then listening and for all of us to come, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch.” (Mk. 13:37)

Whew, it can be mind-numbing to see the things breaking over the planet, except that Jesus said to take them as signs of his coming back.  He will almost instantly institute a kingdom where there is no more bad, no sin, no sorrow, no tears or terror, no daily fear, and no fear of death as it becomes obsolete.

It is in his famous address on the End of the Age in Matthew 24 that he says, “He that endures to the end shall be saved.”  Let us pray for that endurance that comes by his grace and not by our own grit or endurance…which can fail (Remember Peter’s gaffes).  Lord, save us!

When God’s people pray, evil is restrained, 2 Thess. 2:7 — the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church.   Please join with me instantly in requests for prayer in these situations around the world in the stories below.  Join instantly, but also ask God to bring to mind and to remind of the things He desires more prayer for.  Obedient, praying saints, by faith, hold more reins than they can imagine.

***

Issues of the week —

(February 11)
As suggested in a recent blog, maybe some folks in Cape Town took to prayer.  I know I did; intense drought is a fearful thing.  May Cape Towners remember who sends the rain, and may they continue to pray.
God sends literal showers of blessing, but He wants to find contrite hearts.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/11/africa/cape-town-rain-day-zero-intl/index.html
Cape Town rejoices as rain falls on drought-stricken city
(CNN)When it finally came, restaurant diners rushed outside mid-meal to see the deluge for themselves. Others grabbed buckets to collect precious water from gutters to be used for washing clothes.
The rain that fell on Cape Town Friday evening was cause for celebration in a drought-stricken city headed for "Day Zero" -- the day when taps are expected to run dry. … …

***
(February 12)
The Great Divide? If The First Amendment goes, will it matter much which side brings the guns first?  In this era, will martial law and a dissolute populace preclude civil war?…and be an opportunity for a politically-correct authoritarian dystopia to arise?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/school-zone/os-first-amendment-college-campus-20180201-story.html
Free speech on campus: Some students want schools to limit what's said

***
(February 13)
Most of the world’s volcanoes and earthquakes come from this vast Pacific Ring.  Mt. St. Helens and even the Yellowstone caldera may be triggered by The Ring of Fire.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/918337/earthquake-news-pacific-plate-ring-of-fire-erupt-shake-quake-guam-alaska-japan
Earthquake news: Series of tremors shake Pacific plate as Ring of Fire activity returns
STRONG tremors have struck near Guam, Japan and Alaska within the Pacific plate as fears of Ring of Fire activity return. The US island territory of Guam was struck by four earthquakes in the early hours of Tuesday as magnitude 5.7, 5.6, 5.4 and 4.9 quakes shook the region.

***
If the massive caldera under Yellowstone should blow, it could instantly rewrite history, blowing out at the least the whole mid-portion of the USA.  Why is there so little mention in Scripture of the last worldwide empire of the USA before the Antichrist and The Tribulation rise?  Maybe because the USA is gone, or reduced to a third world wasteland?  Worldwide nuclear winter could also occur, though the Prophets and the Word do not seem to indicate this as a causative factor in the Tribulation.  Interesting Times. To Watch and Pray!  (Of the few possible mentions of the USA in scripture, “the great eagle” in the Book of Revelation which rescues Israel, may be the strongest intimation that a righteous remnant of the USA may survive into that time.  Surely, all will be revealed in due time.  Let us pray for the remnant in our country and around the world, among all nations, “the people of God, scattered abroad.”)

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/918315/Yellowstone-ERUPTION-volcano-Supervolcano-STRAIN-magma-chamber-pressure
Yellowstone ERUPTION: Supervolcano under 'STRAIN’ - experts find magma chamber pressure
YELLOWSTONE is “under strain” according to a group of seismologists who are monitoring the potentially catastrophic volcano, prompting fears an eruption is imminent.
***
Omarosa says Pence thinks he hears from Jesus.  If she read the Bible, she would realize all Christians are to hear from Jesus by the Word and by the Holy Spirit.  These are our guidance to do right, not a misguidance to do just anything we conjure up.  Lord Jesus, please protect brother Pence, guide him, keep him from any missteps in his high position.  May he and his boss learn to be often on their knees together before your throne of grace, seeking your will and not be deceived by the spirit of Antichrist (nor distracted by scorners).  Amen.
(Omarosa should be “scared,” but let it be the Fear of God to save her soul.)

http://ew.com/tv/2018/02/12/celebrity-big-brother-omarosa-calls-vice-president-mike-pence-scary/
Celebrity Big Brother: Omarosa calls Vice President Mike Pence 'scary'
Omarosa may be on her way out but she still has plenty more to say about her time in the White House.
In this clip from tonight’s episode of Celebrity Big Brother, Omarosa tells her fellow houseguests about how they shouldn’t be so quick to want President Donald Trump out when Vice President Mike Pence is such a “scary” alternative. Omarosa and Keshia are up for eviction.
“You would be worried about Pence,” Omarosa says to the others. “We would be begging for days of Trump back if Pence became president. He’s extreme. I’m Christian, I love Jesus, but he thinks Jesus tells him to say things.” … …

***
If we add CRISPR-Cas9 technology, maybe we can repopulate “the werewolves” too!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-mexican-wolves-artificial-insemination-20180206-story.html
Scientists artificially inseminate Mexican wolf at Brookfield Zoo to help endangered population rebound
The scene mirrors one popular in most medical television dramas: A sedated patient lies on a table as practitioners, their hands gloved, bustle about handling tubes and tongs, vials and syringes. Computer monitors, flickering with real-time vital information, hum in the background of beeping machines, walkie-talkie static and urgent voices.
And though the procedure being done this day, artificial insemination, is fairly typical, the patient, Zana, a Mexican wolf living at the Brookfield Zoo, is anything but. … …

***
(February 14)
A future without the written and printed word? (See last blog’s story too.)

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/12/print-journalism-may-last-another-10-years-new-york-times-ceo.html
New York Times CEO: Print journalism has maybe another 10 years
The newspaper printing presses may have another decade of life in them, New York Time CEO Mark Thompson told CNBC on Monday.
"I believe at least 10 years is what we can see in the U.S. for our print products," Thompson said on “Power Lunch." He said he'd like to have the print edition "survive and thrive as long as it can," but admitted it might face an expiration date.
"We'll decide that simply on the economics," he said. "There may come a point when the economics of [the print paper] no longer make sense for us."
"The key thing for us is that we're pivoting," Thompson said. "Our plan is to go on serving our loyal print subscribers as long as we can. But meanwhile to build up the digital business, so that we have a successful growing company and a successful news operation long after print is gone." … …

***
The Beast.  The Antichrist himself, a human of some kind, is the Beast, but analogically to the True God, he will be “the son,” the devil will be his “father,” and the great earthly Beast of AI and combined universal computing power and ubiquitous robotic interface will be his “unholy spirit.”  It will have its nexus in the giant robot/cyborg living Idol that the False Prophet and the Antichrist will set up to manage the human affairs of his domain, this whole planet:  Read Revelation 13, especially verses 14 ff., where IT is found killing those who will not submit to the Antichrist.  The False Prophet also is an imitation of the voice of The Holy Spirit and helps the Antichrist to conjure up this AI in verses 11-12 and ff.  Forewarned is Forearmed.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/13/a-i-will-be-billions-of-times-smarter-than-humans-man-and-machine-need-to-merge.html
A.I. will be 'billions of times' smarter than humans and man needs to merge with it, expert says
	•	Artificial intelligence could be "billions of times smarter" than humans and people may need to merge with computers to survive, a futurist told CNBC on Tuesday.
	•	Ian Pearson, a futurist at Futurizon, said there will need to be a link between AI and a human brain.
	•	Elon Musk said last year that humans must merge with machines to not be irrelevant in the age of AI.
Artificial intelligence could be "billions of times smarter" than humans and people may need to merge with computers to survive, a futurist told CNBC on Tuesday.
Speaking on a panel hosted by CNBC at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Futurizon's Ian Pearson's comments mirrored ideas put forward by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
"The fact is that AI can go further than humans, it could be billions of times smarter than humans at this point," Pearson said. "So we really do need to make sure that we have some means of keeping up.
The way to protect against that is to link that AI to your brain so you have the same IQ… as the computer. I don't actually think it's safe, just like Elon Musk… to develop these superhuman computers until we have a direct link to the human brain… and then don't get way ahead."
At the World Government Summit in 2017, Musk, who has warned about the power of AI in the future, said humans and machines must merge to still be relevant with the advent of more powerful technology.
"Over time, I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence," Musk said in February 2017.
"It's mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output."
Musk has founded a start-up called Neuralink that is aimed at just that.
Pearson said Tuesday that some jobs that don't require humans will disappear. AI and the impact on jobs has been a big theme at the World Government Summit this year.

***
Think you can hide in the woods?  Think again.  Will it take a lead-lined, underground windowless room to escape?  Well, that sounds eerily like solitude in prison.  Our only hope as individuals is the protection of the Holy Spirit and then the coming of the Lord.  Maranatha!  Come soon, Lord Jesus!
(Steel yourself and watch the video.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/13/technology/skydio-autonomous-drones.html?emc=edit_th_180214&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
The Autonomous Selfie Drone Is Here. Is Society Ready for It?
It’s 2035, the Second American Civil War has been won by the other side, and you find yourself in a heap of trouble with Attorney General Logan Paul. (The future is very troubling.) He has dispatched an all-seeing eye-in-the-sky to tail you, an agile flying machine equipped with 13 cameras and a top speed of 25 miles per hour.
The drone knows your face, your gait and your clothing. It hovers persistently behind your back, moving when you move, stopping when you stop, resisting every effort to shake it. You run into the woods, but you still can’t lose it.
So now what? Clip this article and save it as a guide for surviving our airborne future. … …

***
“Portlandia’s” delusional paradise overrun by Crystal Meth.  Just when the opioid devil of Big Pharma is confronted by our culture, meth labs in kitchens, RVs, and off-border rebounds.  “…for by thy sorceries (pharma / drugs) were all nations deceived…” Revelation 18:23d

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/us/meth-crystal-drug.html?emc=edit_th_180214&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Meth, the Forgotten Killer, Is Back. And It’s Everywhere.
PORTLAND, Ore. — They huddled against the biting wind, pacing from one corner to another hoping to score heroin or pills. But a different drug was far more likely to be on offer outside the train station downtown, where homeless drug users live in tents pitched on the sidewalk.
“Everybody has meth around here — everybody,” said Sean, a 27-year-old heroin user who hangs out downtown and gave only his first name. “It’s the easiest to find.”
The scourge of crystal meth, with its exploding labs and ruinous effect on teeth and skin, has been all but forgotten amid national concern over the opioid crisis. But 12 years after Congress took aggressive action to curtail it, meth has returned with a vengeance. Here in Oregon, meth-related deaths vastly outnumber those from heroin. At the United States border, agents are seizing 10 to 20 times the amounts they did a decade ago. Methamphetamine, experts say, has never been purer, cheaper or more lethal. … …

***
This may be a satanic attack upon a needed leader and son of David.  Pray for Bibi.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-corruption.html?emc=edit_th_180214&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Netanyahu Should Be Charged in Graft Cases, Israeli Police Say

***
BREAKING NEWS / Valentine’s Day School Massacre:  Parkland (Broward County), Florida.  Earliest network news reports here were by BBC on PBS.  There a reporter reminded us this was the 19th school attack since the beginning of the year, a mere six weeks back!
The very end of civil order, safety and decency seems to be upon us…as even children perish en masse.  Final count of the dead by the 15th, 17 with 15 more now listed as wounded.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Police-Respond-Marjory-Stoneman-Douglas-High-School-Parkland-474078423.html
'Numerous Fatalities' in Shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland
The suspect, who is approximately 18-years-old, was also taken to a nearby hospital. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel called the shooting a "horrific, homicidal and detestable act"

***
(February 15)
“Can’t buy me love, no, no, no — no!”  (Lennon and McCartney, circa 1964)
(More reasons why the Beast / AI / Matrix life / Transhumanist “paradise,” etc. won’t make people happy, but, rather, miserable)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-silicon-valley-singles-are-giving-up-on-the-algorithms-of-love/2018/02/14/6cbd74ee-1041-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.693f53ef5981
Why Silicon Valley singles are giving up on the algorithms of love
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Kate Chan, a 30-year-old digital marketer in Silicon Valley, first approached dating apps with a blend of curiosity and hope that they’d help her find a great guy.
But after six months of dead-end mismatches with guys she thought were boring or work-obsessed, she has gone back to what she called “meeting the old-fashioned way”: without a screen. She now meets guys at do-it-yourself crafting meetups and her rock-climbing gym.
“I didn’t want to rely on the algorithms anymore,” she said. “When it comes down to it, I really have to see that person face to face, to get that intuition, that you don’t get in a digital way.” ...
…But they’re also left with a more fundamental doubt: Maybe the human mysteries of chemistry and attraction aren’t problems big data can solve. … …

***
Yes, consider the tabloid source, but if NASA really is involved, hmmm?  “Aliens, Space Brothers, Ascended Masters,” etc., etc. —  Nephilim? — seem to have been around a long time with “Greys” showing up on cave walls, etc.  Although I doubt the veracity of the so-called Egyptian coin bearing an image of a commanding Grey, attached to this site; if anyone has cross sources on that, send them along.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/681762/Alien-news-NASA-ISRO-prehistoric-paintings-UFO-discovered-India-Charama-spaceship-video
NASA to investigate 10,000-year-old mystery rock that ‘shows paintings of UFOs and aliens’
A NUMBER of prehistoric drawings have sparked a local government to seek the help of NASA after the images appeared to depict extraterrestrial life.

***

Get a look at this.  Humanoid robots at the kids-learning-to-ski stage.  Don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  They’re arriving among us.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/videos/skiing-robots-hit-the-slopes-in-pyeongchang/10dg1jzte6greqj3yts7jlojhiypyusf
Skiing robots hit the slopes in PyeongChang

***
Saints, Just ran into Rob Skipa on YouTube, a teacher new to me.  He severally cites Missler whose orthodoxy is well established. As with all others, we must apply the test of Acts 17:11 to any teacher.  He speaks on Nephilim and genetic manipulation topics.  We must remember first that all humans are under Original Sin and must be individually saved by repentance, but there are possibilities too of Nephilim genetics among human populations, those who cannot be saved according to the apocryphal books like the Books of Enoch, Jasher, and Jubilees.  Nevertheless, Skipa makes some interesting points about the Antichrist that I pass along without further testing yet.  It seems the Pharaoh who arose “who knew not Joseph” and thus put the Israelites into slavery may have been an Assyrian import and “of the spirit of antichrist.”  See Isaiah 52:5 which Skipa references Missler as his source of recognition of this text.  Remember, John said, “many antichrists shall arise” and “the spirit of antichrist is already in the world.” (See 1 Jn. 4:1-3, 2 Jn. 7)  Skipa sets out to identify identity patterns from Nimrod on, but he also notes an adversary of Messiah in Micah 5, right after the famous passage identifying Christ as born in Bethlehem (v.2), and identifies this adversary as “the Assyrian” (v.5)  Have not yet followed Skipa’s layout and logic to any full degree, but I am set to wonder if we should keep a closer eye on present day Syria, still the center of ancient Assyria with Damascus and watch for unfolding prophetic events from there.  The Syrian War, which is now oft mentioned as “over,” is proving not to be over and the Russians and Americans are near to clashes, with Macron of France threatening just in the last few days to send bombing raids too.  Much is and could yet emerge from the Syrian situation, and almost undoubtedly it has a direct precedence for Ezekiel’s WW3 scenario, chapters 38 and 39, and may also set the stage for the emergence of the final Antichrist.  (Even if he is not an actual, physical Syrian or Assyrian, he will be of that same anti-Semitic and vicious hatred as those ancient enemies of Israel.)
Can’t yet inform more fully on Skipa.  I am troubled with any exact equating of genetic alterations with Original Sin.  I will be careful for this reason in my own watching and assessment.  It appears reasonable that Noah and his seven Ark partners were free from genetic alteration, but they were not free of Original Sin, and also had to be saved by faith and grace.  Noah no sooner climbed off the Ark then he got drunk (a sin) and shortly after Ham sinned by viewing his father’s nakedness.  Yet, the church fathers believe, along with Enoch, that certain Nephilim-infected peoples and tribes could not be saved and this is appears to be a reason God commanded Israel to kill them all and cleanse the land in the days of the foundation of the physical nation.  Yet, a stranger was to be received if he could and did accept the faith of Israel.  Perhaps this meant he was clean of Nephilim genetic alteration?  There are many caveats to exercise in considering these matters.  Skipa can be found on YouTube.  Here is the first video I ran into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uof4oN6UaZ4  Use caution.
***
(February 16)
Not over yet?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/water-climbs-california-enclaves-drought-returns-201255735.html
Water use climbs in California enclaves as drought returns
TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) — Overall water use is climbing in Southern California as that part of the state plunges back into drought, driving state and regional water managers as they consider permanently reinstating some watering bans and conservation programs. … …

***

(February 17)
Do Earthquakes now become ho-hum?  Major quake hits Mexico City’s nine million, the most populous city in North America.  It seems now we must report an “earthquake of the week,” almost an “earthquake of the day.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/magnitude-7-5-earthquake-slams-south-central-mexico-235802537.html
Magnitude-7.2 earthquake slams south, central Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee swaying buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago. … …

***
Just a week ago, “LIDAR,” ground penetrating radar, found an unknown city of 60,000 in Guatemala.  Now, a massive city with more building foundations than present Manhattan is found in Mexico.  What great civilizations and how founded, by what philosophy, means, and purposes, we know not.  And this is yet another people than the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas.  Could these new finds of ancient and unknown things be among those things that will astound us, fearful revelations from/of the heavenlies as the Age comes to an end?  Are these results also the teaching of the Nephilim and the fallen angels in unknown-to-Western knowledge prehistory events?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/15/laser-scanning-reveals-lost-ancient-mexican-city-had-as-many-buildings-as-manhattan
Laser scanning reveals 'lost' ancient Mexican city 'had as many buildings as Manhattan'

***
Soros arguing for media censorship to quiet the people?
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/16/soros-calls-eu-regulate-social-media-fight-populism/
Soros Calls on EU to Regulate Social Media to Fight Populism
Billionaire open-borders activist George Soros has demanded the European Union (EU) regulate social media because voters’ minds are being controlled and “manipulated”.
He claimed the size of social media firms made them a “public menace” and argued they had led people to vote against globalist causes, including electing President Donald J. Trump, in an article for The Guardian published Thursday.
The speculator, who runs one of the largest campaigning groups in the world and is noted for his interference in foreign politics and elections, said ultimately unregulated social media threatened democracy and the “integrity of elections”.
New media websites and populist groups have been prolific on social media, using the platforms to surpass mainstream media and promote causes Mr. Soros and his allies oppose. … …

***
Humans are meant to be individuals, made in the image of God, and not meant to be a hive of borderless, consciousness controlled by a super-ubiquitous, godlike yet not Divine but diabolical, Universal Mind.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/920081/speech-thought-communication-artificial-intelligence-siri-alexa-HIBA
Human speech will be replaced by thought communication by 2050, claims expert
HUMAN speech will become a thing of the past by the year 2050, by which time we will communicate by thought via a computer-generated collective consciousness, it has been claimed

***
Nowhere to run — A hypothermic drunk on the run from cops in a woods is “saved” by high tech robotics.

http://fox6now.com/2018/02/15/walworth-county-officials-use-drone-to-catch-fleeing-suspect/
Walworth County officials use drone to catch fleeing suspect: ‘We were able to save him’

***
(February 18)
The UK “doesn’t get earthquakes.”  Yet, a small one almost seems to be a reflection of the 7.2 in Mexico City.  It is also superstition that events happen in threes, especially airline crashes, but the one killing 70-something in Russia a day or so back (already off the news cycle) is here followed by one killing 66 in Iran.  Will another follow shortly among these future allies in the upcoming World War 3 of Ezekiel’s prophecy (chs. 38 and 39)?  I wouldn’t base any doctrine on it, but there may be “inside perks” to watching the spiritual scene unfold.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5403557/Earthquake-hits-South-Wales-4-9-Richter-scale.html
‘Wales will rebuild’: Sarcastic Twitter users share their hilarious reactions to the biggest tremor to hit Britain in a decade which measured 4.4 on the Richter scale
	•	The biggest earthquake to hit the UK in 10 years was felt throughout Wales and south west of England today
	•	Reports of tremors also came from the north west, with people claiming buildings shook in Merseyside
	•	On February 27, 2008, an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Market Rasen in Lincolnshire
	•	No injuries have been reported and Twitter users quickly mocked the dramatic overreaction on social media 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/iran-plane-crash-live-updates-12045694
Live: Plane crashes into mountain in Iran killing all 66 passengers and crew as severe weather hampers recovery
Everyone on board is presumed dead after the ATR 72 aircraft went down and vanished from radar shortly after take-off

***

If ye then be risen with Christ, 
seek those things which are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  
Set your affection on things above, 
not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3: 1,2

*********************************************************
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February 11

Saints,

Let us cling to Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, alone!  In these days, many things are being revealed that will shake us to the very roots of our humanity.  Jesus said men’s hearts would fail them for fear at the things coming upon the Earth.  Even now, these things are beginning to break all around us, in every area of which we may have conscious consideration (yes, and in many things that we are not yet conscious of even if we may feel them in our soul’s precocious capacity of emotion…our “gut”).  Be strong, quit you (take a stand) like men, sounded the apostle Paul in warning the saints in 1 Cor. 16:13:  “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you (requite yourselves, give a good answer for the grace given to you) like men, be strong.”

O, Lord the Holy Spirit abide with us, comfort, give us aid moment by moment, day by day is these days we are witnessing.  Help us also to see the divine privilege of seeing what we are seeing.  Keep us ready.

***
Some signals of the week —

(February 4)
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” 
															Wm. Shakespeare - Hamlet 

A new city of 60,000 structures emerges from Guatemalan jungles.  So, who’s still fighting over “original Americans” (American Indians), Columbus, the Vikings?  Could it be that long before any present North Americans set foot here, Nephilim giants (“aliens,” “space brothers,” “ascended masters,” etc., yada yada…incarnate devils!) roamed the Americas and taught immense, devil-worshipping, human-sacrificing “civilization” to the still-very-little-known-about South American Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans?  Even still nomadic North American Indians have tribal memories of dangerous giants among and before them.

Evolution? Shmevolution!  Read Genesis 6 — “…in those days the earth was FILLED with violence…” (“filled,” as in all over the planet. “There is nothing new under the sun,” said Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/americas/mayan-city-discovery-laser.html?emc=edit_th_180204&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Lasers Reveal a Maya Civilization So Dense It Blew Experts’ Minds
They were hidden there, all this time, under the cover of tree canopies in the jungles of northern Guatemala: tens of thousands of structures built by the Maya over a millennium ago.
Not far from the sites tourists already know, like the towering temples of the ancient city of Tikal, laser technology has uncovered about 60,000 homes, palaces, tombs and even highways in the humid lowlands.
The findings suggested an ancient society of such density and interconnectedness that even the most experienced archaeologists were surprised. … …

***
Big Brother, high tech dystopian agonies NOW for the Uighurs—

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/opinion/sunday/china-surveillance-state-uighurs.html?emc=edit_th_180204&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
What It’s Like to Live in a Surveillance State
Imagine that this is your daily life: While on your way to work or on an errand, every 100 meters you pass a police blockhouse. Video cameras on street corners and lamp posts recognize your face and track your movements. At multiple checkpoints, police officers scan your ID card, your irises and the contents of your phone. At the supermarket or the bank, you are scanned again, your bags are X-rayed and an officer runs a wand over your body — at least if you are from the wrong ethnic group. Members of the main group are usually waved through.
You have had to complete a survey about your ethnicity, your religious practices and your “cultural level”; about whether you have a passport, relatives or acquaintances abroad, and whether you know anyone who has ever been arrested or is a member of what the state calls a “special population.”
This personal information, along with your biometric data, resides in a database tied to your ID number. The system crunches all of this into a composite score that ranks you as “safe,” “normal” or “unsafe.” Based on those categories, you may or may not be allowed to visit a museum, pass through certain neighborhoods, go to the mall, check into a hotel, rent an apartment, apply for a job or buy a train ticket. Or you may be detained to undergo re-education, like many thousands of other people.
A science-fiction dystopia? No. This is life in northwestern China today if you are Uighur. … …

***
(February 5)
Trans?  Trans-this and Trans-that.  Is it a code word for departing from sane humanity, a path to possession?  A thoughtful analysis.

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1982
Transanity - Transabled, Transracial & Transspecies
Thanks to Bruce "Caitlyn" Jenner and many others, we're all familiar with the concept of being transgender. But what about being transabled or transracial or transspecies or transage? Are these all valid and real? Or are all of them -- including being transgender -- based primarily on mental or emotional disorders?
The question of being "transage" -- referring to someone who feels he or she is a child trapped in an adult's body -- was recently in the news with this shocking headline: "TRANS-AGE: Pedophile Charged With Abusing 3 Girls Says He's A 9-Year-Old Trapped In Man's Body."
Putting aside the inexcusable nature of this man's alleged crimes, he's hardly the first to make this claim. Consider the story of a married man with 7 children who now lives as a 6-year-old girl with his new adoptive "parents." … …

***
Welcome to the new world of illusions, where not only politicians but anyone can be made to “star” at doing anything, in any context, in any time frame, in detailed, hi-def video.  Infinite deniability is the only upside, but imagine how much damage can be created even if videos are ultimately proved fallacious.  (Just look at the enormous damage of judgment, suicides, ruined lives and careers and reputations based on hearsay without proof or trial by the so-called #MeToo movement.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/opinion/hacking-politics-future.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20180205&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=6&nlid=69381998&ref=headline&te=1
Our Hackable Political Future
Imagine it is the spring of 2019. A bottom-feeding website, perhaps tied to Russia, “surfaces” video of a sex scene starring an 18-year-old Kirsten Gillibrand. It is soon debunked as a fake, the product of a user-friendly video application that employs generative adversarial network technology to convincingly swap out one face for another.
It is the summer of 2019, and the story, predictably, has stuck around — part talk-show joke, part right-wing talking point. “It’s news,” political journalists say in their own defense. “People are talking about it. How can we not?”
Then it is fall. The junior senator from New York State announces her campaign for the presidency. At a diner in New Hampshire, one “low information” voter asks another: “Kirsten What’s-her-name? She’s running for president? Didn’t she have something to do with pornography?”
Welcome to the shape of things to come. In 2016 Gareth Edwards, the director of the Star Wars film “Rogue One,” was able to create a scene featuring a young Princess Leia by manipulating images of Carrie Fisher as she looked in 1977. Mr. Edwards had the best hardware and software a $200 million Hollywood budget could buy. Less than two years later, images of similar quality can be created with software available for free download on Reddit (Bold-faced Added). That was how a faked video supposedly of the actress Emma Watson in a shower with another woman ended up on the website Celeb Jihad. … …

***
Lord, in their suffering, save people in Venezuela!  A failed socialist state.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-05/leave-right-now-or-arm-yourself-to-the-teeth-life-in-caracas
Leave Right Now or Arm Yourself to the Teeth: Life in Caracas
There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a new series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.

***
(February 6)
Will robotic systems capitalize on their own ineptitudes to take over human decision-making?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-05/robo-adviser-websites-crashed-cutting-clients-off-from-accounts
Robo-Adviser Websites Crash, Cutting Off Access to Accounts
Robo-advisers haven’t had much experience with market routs. When confronted with one on Monday, they struggled.
The web sites of two of the country’s biggest robo-advisers -- Wealthfront Inc. and Betterment LLC -- crashed as the S&P 500 Index sank 4.1 percent. Complaints quickly spread across Reddit and other Internet sites from people who had trouble logging onto their accounts. “Really?” wrote @jlpatel23 after he received a message from Wealthfront saying its site was down. … …

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-01/robots-in-finance-bring-new-risks-to-stability-regulators-warn
Robots in Finance Bring New Risks to Stability, Regulators Warn
Banks and hedge funds that rely on artificial intelligence threaten to inject risks into the financial system that could exacerbate a future crisis, according to global regulators.

The financial industry’s rush to adopt AI raises the potential that firms will become overly dependent on technologies that herd them toward the same view of risks and could “amplify financial shocks,” according to a study published on Wednesday by the Financial Stability Board, a panel of regulators that includes the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.

“AI and machine learning applications show substantial promise if their specific risks are properly managed,” the FSB said in a report that called for additional monitoring and testing of robotic technologies designed to lessen human involvement. “Taken as a group, universal banks’ vulnerability to systemic shocks may grow if they increasingly depend on similar algorithms or data streams.” … …

***
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  “There is none righteous, no, not one.”  “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” (see Romans 3:23, 3:10; Ephesians 2:8, 9)  “There is no salvation in anyone but Christ,” says Peter, see Acts 4:12
Witness also, “Buddhist peace” in Myanmar (Burma) against the Rohingya.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5354519/Meditation-DOESNT-make-better-person.html
Meditation DOESN'T make you a calmer person: Buddhist practice leaves people just as aggressive and prejudiced, reveals study
	•	Meditation has long been touted as being able to make the world a better place
	•	But new research suggests this widely-held theory may actually just be a myth
	•	A team of scientists have found it does not make people more compassionate 

'If every eight-year-old in the world is taught meditation, the world will be without violence within one generation,' the Dalai Lama claims.
But it appears the respected monk could be wrong.
For scientists have revealed the trendy Buddhist practice does not make you more compassionate, less aggressive or prejudiced. … …

***
Has accurate (facts-on-the-ground) “Islamaphobia” flipped German workers from left to right?  Is Italy right behind?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/world/europe/afd-unions-social-democrats.html?emc=edit_th_180206&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Workers of Germany, Unite: The New Siren Call of the Far-Right
BOTTROP, Germany — Guido Reil is a coal miner, like his father and grandfather before him. He joined a trade union at 18 and the center-left Social Democratic Party at 20. Fast-talking and loud, he has been an elected union representative for over a decade.
But two years ago, after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Germany, Mr. Reil switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. Competing in state legislative elections last May, the party won 20 percent of the vote in his home district with his name on its list — and the Social Democrats slipped 16 percentage points from a previous election.
“Those are my former comrades,” Mr. Reil said, chuckling. “They came with me.”
How is a far-right party drawing voters from labor, a traditional bastion of the left? The question is not academic, but goes directly to the heart of the emerging threat the AfD presents to Germany’s political establishment, including Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The AfD shocked Germany in the fall when it became the first far-right party to enter Parliament since World War II. But that breakthrough not only shattered a significant postwar taboo. It has also enormously complicated the task of forming a new governing coalition, leaving Germany and all of Europe in months of limbo. … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/world/europe/italy-election-northern-league-populists-migrants.html?emc=edit_th_180206&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Italy’s Populists Turn Up the Heat as Anti-Migrant Anger Boils
ROME — The far-right extremist who wounded six African immigrants in a racially motivated shooting rampage in central Italy this weekend was a one-time candidate for municipal office who had kept a copy of Mein Kampf and Celtic crosses in his home. Photographs show he had a neo-Nazi tattoo on his face and, at the moment of his arrest, had an Italian flag draped over his shoulders as he performed a fascist salute.

But the gunman, Luca Traini, ran for election last year not with a post-fascist and nationalist party, but as a representative of the formerly secessionist Northern League. Under its leader Matteo Salvini, whom the gunman described as his “captain,” according to Italian press accounts, the party has rebranded itself, dropping the word Northern to attract voters in central and southern Italy who share Mr. Salvini’s anti-immigrant anger.
Ahead of Italian elections on March 4, there is plenty of it. Perhaps no issue has struck a greater chord with voters than immigration, and perhaps no Italian politician has voiced concerns about immigration more than Mr. Salvini.
In the aftermath of the shooting in Macerata, Mr. Salvini perfunctorily condemned the violence, which had followed the arrest of a local Nigerian immigrant accused of killing and dismembering a teenage girl. Mr. Salvini then argued that “unchecked immigration brings chaos, anger” and “drug dealing, thefts, rapes and violence.”
In Europe’s still precarious political climate, Mr. Salvini poses a whole new threat for a political establishment that is enjoying a reprieve after populist forces were largely beaten back in French and German elections last year.

He is not only a favorite of Marine Le Pen of France, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and nationalist politicians across Europe. Some fear that Mr. Salvini, while now aligned with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a center-right coalition, could eventually join forces with the populist Five Star Movement, which echoes his strong anti-immigrant and anti-European Union message. Together they would be an anti-establishment nightmare. … …

***
An end of virility and fertility as planetary fears rise?

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/climate/climate-change-children.html
No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It
Facing an uncertain future
If it weren’t for climate change, Allison Guy said, she would go off birth control tomorrow.
But scientists’ projections, if rapid action isn’t taken, are not “congruent with a stable society,” said Ms. Guy, 32, who works at a marine conservation nonprofit in Washington. “I don’t want to give birth to a kid wondering if it’s going to live in some kind of ‘Mad Max’ dystopia.”
Parents like Amanda PerryMiller, a Christian youth leader and mother of two in Independence, Ohio, share her fears.
“Animals are disappearing. The oceans are full of plastic. The human population is so numerous, the planet may not be able to support it indefinitely,” said Ms. PerryMiller, 29. “This doesn’t paint a very pretty picture for people bringing home a brand-new baby from the hospital.”
The people thinking about these issues fit no single profile. They are women and men, liberal and conservative. They come from many regions and religions. … …

***
(February 7)
Pop-Media, the strange paranoid hypnosis the divided American Public must face down daily now, even in popular drama —

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/372597-homeland-tackles-the-deep-state
'Homeland' in the Trump era tackles the 'deep state'
(excerpt):  …The thriller’s seventh season, premiering Sunday, lands former CIA operative Carrie Mathison, played by Claire Danes, back in Washington to confront the country’s fictional new commander in chief, President Elizabeth Keane. Following an assassination attempt, Keane, played by Elizabeth Marvel, begins to run an increasingly paranoid administration.
The political thriller’s head honcho says although “Keane is not Trump and Trump is not Keane,” the two “share similar issues.”“I don’t believe we’d be telling the story in Washington, D.C., if Hillary Clinton had been elected president,” says Gansa. …
***
(February 8)
Massive Earthquake in Taiwan leaves high-rises helter-skelter, tossed akimbo —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/world/asia/taiwan-earthquake-search-survivors.html?emc=edit_th_180208&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Taiwan Earthquake Toll Rises to 9 Dead, With Dozens Missing
HUALIEN, Taiwan — Rescuers in Taiwan searched badly damaged buildings early Thursday, looking for scores of people missing after a powerful earthquake hit the island’s east coast.
The magnitude-6.4 quake struck at 11:50 p.m. Tuesday and was centered 14 miles northeast of the coastal city of Hualien. The shaking was felt across Taiwan, but in Hualien the force was disastrous, collapsing walls and leaving buildings resting at alarming angles.

***
(February 9)
More on Venezuela — What it’s coming to:  Highway robbery of food transport trucks

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-trucks-widerimage/mad-max-violence-stalks-venezuelas-lawless-roads-idUSKBN1FT1G9?il=0
Mad Max violence stalks Venezuela's lawless roads
LA GRITA, Venezuela (Reuters) - It’s midnight on one of the most dangerous roads in Latin America and Venezuelan trucker Humberto Aguilar hurtles through the darkness with 20 tons of vegetables freshly harvested from the Andes for sale in the capital Caracas.
When he set off at sunset from the town of La Grita in western Venezuela on his 900-km (560-mile) journey, Aguilar knew he was taking his life in his hands.
With hunger widespread amid a fifth year of painful economic implosion under President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has seen a frightening surge in attacks on increasingly lawless roads.
Just a few days earlier, Aguilar said he sat terrified when hundreds of looters swarmed a stationary convoy, overwhelming drivers by sheer numbers. They carted off milk, rice and sugar from other trucks but left his less-prized vegetables alone. … …

***

Deuteronomy 4:2:  “Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it…”
Revelation 22: 18-19: “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life…”

http://prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2000
Gender Identity Invades The Church - Diocese Bans Masculine Language For God
The latest clash between feminism and the Church centers around the grammatical gender of God Himself with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C. voting to ban the use of masculine pronouns when referring to God. And this wouldn't be the first church to do so. The Church of Sweden made a similar change in 2017 when it voted to use only gender-neutral pronouns in reference to God. … …

***
(February 10)
Early Model Terminators Being Deployed —

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/02/us-army-now-holding-drills-ground-robots-shoot/145854/
US Army Now Holding Drills With Ground Robots That Shoot
Last year saw a historic first: an exercise in which an unmanned vehicle provided live covering fire for American troops.
In a historic first, the Army conducted a live fire exercise with a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle armed with a .50-caliber machine gun. It plans to conduct more exercises with more heavily armed ground robots within the next couple of years. … …

***
Are we heading back to comics and coloring books (and emojis) for our information and intellectual exchange?  Will this bring an end of thought-transmitting and recording and exchanging of text and end thousands of years of Western and Human Civilization?  Will libraries be completely and only digital and at the censorship of Artificial Intelligence? Will the immediate future be illiterate with robots reading the story books to humans?  Will these loboted humans even know what a book is?  (Should Christians keep a stash of hardcopy Bibles, concordances, etc.?)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/09/technology/the-rise-of-a-visual-internet.html?emc=edit_th_180210&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Welcome to the Post-Text Future
I’ll make this short: The thing you’re doing now, reading prose on a screen, is going out of fashion.
We’re taking stock of the internet right now, with writers who cover the digital world cataloging some of the most consequential currents shaping it. If you probe those currents and look ahead to the coming year online, one truth becomes clear. The defining narrative of our online moment concerns the decline of text, and the exploding reach and power of audio and video. … …

***
(February 11)
The Heat Turns Way Up Between Israel and Iran Via Syria.  Israeli F-16 shot down; Retaliatory Strikes —

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/WATCH-Israel-downs-Iranian-drone-destroys-its-operating-base-542213
WATCH: ISRAEL DOWNS IRANIAN DRONE, DESTROYS ITS OPERATING BASE
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT - Israel launched heavy air strikes in Syria on Saturday, saying it hit air defenses and Iranian targets, and the Syrian army claimed to have brought down an Israeli F-16 that crashed in northern Israel in a major escalation of tension. The Israeli military said early assessments indicated the jet had been shot down by Syrian fire, but this was still unconfirmed
It marked the most serious confrontation yet in Syria between Israel and Iranian and Iran-backed forces that have established a major foothold in the country while fighting in support of President Bashar Assad in the civil war. … …

***

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, 
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power…
Colossians 2:8-10 

****************************************************************
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February 4

Saints,

“Vanity, vanity, saith the Preacher…”

As never before, we are assaulted from every side with doubt, mockery (from those “sitting in the seat of the scornful” in the First Psalm), unbelief, and with outright hatred.  We must take stock and watch and pray continually at all the satanic devices advancing against us.  We must be tough and truthful with ourselves first and foremost, and come to God, not hiding our faults, but asking him to help us and deal with us as needed, thanking Him constantly for his mercy, yet desiring not to misuse it.  

Peter gives us remarkable instructions:  “But sanctify (set apart) the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1P3:15). If we are merely “settled on the lees” of the comfortable, mutually agreed upon dogmas (interpretations) of our group or denomination or sect, then our supposed “depth of understanding” may be deluding us that we are “further in” and more advanced than we really are.  Instead, we may be walking in lazy religious flesh, and being made the dupes of the devil.  If you are offended at someone questioning your faith and asking for details, even ones that may be uncomfortable to your “fleshly spirituality,” then you are not really “ready always,”  and “with meekness and fear (the cure for pride).”  

Paul added, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5).  We need to guard and examine ourselves continually, lest a root of pride, or worse, bitterness, spring up and deceive us.  A “reprobate” is someone who is failing at his probation, at his call to come and follow.  Are we in the “common faith” of divine orthodoxy, of a balanced seeking of the Word in context and its fullness (Acts 20:27, “the whole counsel of God”), or have we been led astray into some sectarian “niceties” and specialities, convincing us they are “deeper truths,” exploiting our foolish pride, when in fact they may be only the endless splitting of hairs or subtle satanic suggestions to lead astray, to lead into comfortable apostasies?  

Jude concludes, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  Are we loving those around us; are we merciful; are we burdened for the Lost with a Gospel compassion; are we busy about the things of the Lord, or are we just in a dogma competition, a religious show, with everyone else in our circles?  It gives me great and holy fear that Jesus sends away many who are putting on a deep and intricate show of piety and religiosity, even using his name freely, when He says to them, “Depart  from me, ye workers of iniquity.  I never knew you.”  God forbid!  May I always be finding grace in His eyes!  Let us press on in fear, panting after his mercy, and rejoicing in his love.

***

Some of the Week, the War, the Battles —

(January 29)
AS WELL IT SHOULD BE PUT!  Like Caiaphas, who in unbelief and evil, nevertheless prophesied the Truth unknowingly in his office of High Priest when he said that “one should die for the nation,” So here the unbelieving NYTimes states an obvious truth that its editors themselves do not believe and do refute — even specifically railing against Christianity — while they also blame other religions and right wing radicals in general.  But Christianity is NOT political when it simply bows to the commandments of Almighty God Who said, “Thou shalt not murder,” and when God instructs His followers to stay away from such sexual sins as the sodomites and all promoters of sexual sins, in all their particularities, choose to follow.  It is right that we should be able to abstain from helping them with their debaucheries.  They can find enough dens of iniquity to “drag” themselves to, to hack and alter themselves and their flesh, without demanding that we assist.

In actuality, the Hippocratic Oath, though pagan in origin, intones in part, “Do no harm.”  If we follow biblical morality, this is exactly what we achieve (and much more!), but, yes, the Bible also supersedes the Hippocratic Oath and any present political dogmas pretending to interpret it.  Shame on you NYTimes editors!  Turn from your wickedness while there is yet time to avoid the flames of hell latching onto the soles of your very own feet!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/opinion/editorials/white-house-religious-freedom-doctors.html
The White House Puts the Bible Before the Hippocratic Oath
***

A secular pseudo-science sickness of preying on innocent, impressionable children?
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1965
Sacrificing Children to Trans Ideology: An Unscientific Federal Study

Don't be fooled by the scientific-sounding jargon. Transgender ideology is just that: an ideology--and it's one that's endangering lives. 

What do you do, as a Christian, when someone cites a "scientific study" allegedly proving that transgender kids do well with hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery? Well, you've got to ask questions.

That's certainly the right strategy for a  new $5.7 million study just commissioned by the National Institutes of Health.

Writing at Public Discourse, Jane Robbins and Erin Tuttle predict that this study, once completed, will become the go-to evidence for supporters of so-called "affirmation therapy." In other words, it will be used to support chemically and surgically altering the developing and healthy
 
bodies of children, to make them look like those of the opposite sex.

The study's methodology, authors, and stated purpose all make it clear that it's crafted to produce a predetermined conclusion: that "transgender affirmation therapy is safe and effective for gender-dysphoric youngsters." 

The study's authors all but admit this, writing in their abstract that their goal is "to use cross-sex hormones in order to induce development of desired secondary sexual characteristics that bring the body into closer alignment with the youth's internal sense of gender."

Notice the appropriateness of altering a child's body to harmonize with his or her preferred gender is just assumed; it's not evaluated. And this assumption is destructive, even sometimes deadly.

Let's be clear about what "affirmation therapy" really means: Children are given high doses of puberty-suppressing drugs. Doctors then flood their systems with testosterone or estrogen to induce the formation of opposite-sex characteristics like breasts in males and facial hair in 

females. 

Some patients, partway through this process, will undergo "sex-reassignment surgery" in which their internal and even external genitals are removed or remodeled.

This so-called "treatment" will render them infertile for life and can create a host of side-effects, like cancer, infections, gallbladder diseases, and spikes in blood pressure. There is also no long-term research on how these high doses of hormones affect bodies in the long run--

bodies that weren't designed to handle them in the first place.

There is, however, abundant data on the psychological damage of medically "transitioning." One study from Great Britain found that 20 percent of patients who'd undergone this procedure regretted it. Walt Heyer, a man who formerly lived as a transgender woman and now 

identifies with his biological sex once again, thinks that's a serious underestimation.

He cites research showing that 41 percent of post-operative patients attempt suicide, 90 percent have a "significant form of psychopathology," and half have depressive symptoms.

The NIH is apparently ignoring all this, and it's clear even at this early stage that they've got a conclusion in search of an argument. All four of the doctors and clinics selected to conduct the research are deeply invested in transgender ideology. 

Two already conduct irreversible hormonal transitions, sometimes on children as young as 14 years old. And one calls therapies aimed at reconciling kids with their biological sex "dangerous."

But what's truly dangerous is that this deeply unscientific project will not only harm the children involved, it's largely unnecessary. Robbins and Tuttle cite research showing that 80 to 90 percent of gender dysphoric children will accept their biological sex by late adolescence. In

other words, they often grow out of it.

Yet the NIH is paying for research--with our tax dollars--to engrave these feelings irreversibly on children's bodies--all at a time when they're too young to fully understand the consequences.

Like almost everything, this comes down to worldview. Transgender activists believe that feelings define people. And if our feelings are out-of-sync with our bodies, then our bodies must change--through any chemical or surgical means necessary.

But beginning with this conclusion and then crafting a study to prove it isn't science. In fact, it's more like a religion that's demanding child sacrifice.

Originally published at Breakpoint.org - reposted with permission.

***
(January 30)
Getting used to Robots.  Life as a Science Fiction Movie.  It’s coming on Fast.  Serious humans, and all the more the Christians, must carefully examine how not to cross the line in letting robotics take away from or infiltrate our very beings.  If they can be kept as helpful tools for worthy assistance, that may be acceptable, but if interaction with them degrades our humanity, we must resist compliance.  An artificial or robotic hip joint is one thing; brain modification and hackable consciousness implants are something else.  Even now, if your smart phone has become a “new appendage” for your body and soul, you may be in trouble.  We need to be able to walk away from robotic consciousness / AI directives and their knowledge/“wisdom” at any time, for a pause, a brief vacation to verify and be sure of our individual humanity.  Will robots be considered loving, intelligent, self-aware beings and companions in the near future?  To be sure, many foolish humans will be willing to explore every possibility, but those who are persuaded that we are made in the Image of God must be aloof and avoid such vain philosophies.  Revelation 9:6 says a day will come, during that terrible Tribulation era, when men will seek to die and will not be able to accomplish even that.  Is this indicative of cyborg / robotic merging with humans, a metallic, digitized entrapment that will be an inescapable living hell with no way out and only the final Hells to follow?

From The Wall Street Journal—
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-robot-revolution-humanoid-potential-moving-upstream-1517221862
The Robot Revolution: Humanoid Potential | Moving Upstream
A video exploring how humanoid robots are evolving to look and act even more like humans. But could they ever become our friends?
Robots are getting better at walking, talking and looking like humans.
But big questions remain: Will we want to spend time with them on a regular basis? And how useful to humans could they become?
David Hanson, the founder of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, thinks the true beauty of his creation, Sophia, lies beneath the surface: in her machine-learning capabilities.
“We are building the AI architecture for genuine love,” Mr. Hanson says.
Earlier this month, Facebook’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCunn, took to Twitter to accuse Mr. Hanson of promoting “Wizard-of-Oz AI,” and compared Sophia’s cognitive abilities to those of a puppet.
“Yann LeCunn’s crude words sadden me,” responded Mr. Hanson, whose team has advanced to the second round of the $5 million IBM Watson AI XPrize, a four-year competition that aims to accelerate adoption of AI technologies. “While Sophia is not yet fully alive or conscious, she is a solid research platform for the pursuit of general intelligence, creativity, and wisdom in machines.”
Fellow roboticist, Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, has comparably great expectations for his humanoid, Erica. He says his life’s goal is to provide her with “independent consciousness.” … …

***
The ‘bots at work on all sides of political consciousness?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/twitter-says-russian-linked-bots-retweeted-trump-470-000-times
Russian Bots Retweeted Trump's Twitter 470,000 Times

Russian-linked Twitter bots shared Donald Trump’s tweets almost half a million times during the final months of the 2016 election, Twitter Inc. said in a submission to Congress.
The automated accounts retweeted the Republican candidate’s @realDonaldTrump posts almost 470,000 times, accounting for just more than 4 percent of the re-tweets he received from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15, 2016. Hillary Clinton’s account got less than 50,000 retweets by the Russian-linked automated accounts during the same period of time, the company said in documents posted Friday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. … …

***
Alternate Realities (Fake News): “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.” ?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2534488/Celebrities-businesses-government-departments-buying-bogus-Facebook-likes-click-farms.html
Celebrities, businesses and government departments buying bogus Facebook likes and fake Twitter followers from 'click farms'
	•	Music companies make millions of dollars from duping social media
	•	Fake LinkedIn connections make users appear more employable
	•	Sales of fake Twitter followers brings in $40 million to $360 million 
	•	14.1 million of Facebook's 1.18 billion active users are fraudulent accounts

Celebrities, businesses and even the U.S. State Department have bought bogus Facebook likes, Twitter followers or YouTube viewers from offshore 'click farms,' where workers tap, tap, tap the thumbs up button, view videos or retweet comments to inflate social media numbers.
Since Facebook launched almost 10 years ago, users have sought to expand their social networks for financial gain, winning friends, bragging rights and professional clout. And social media companies cite the levels of engagement to tout their value.
But an Associated Press examination has found a growing global marketplace for fake clicks, which tech companies struggle to police. Online records, industry studies and interviews show companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to make millions of dollars by duping social media. … …

***
(January 31)
Now, that’s a problem!  May the Lord shower forth his mercy on Cape Town, especially if the people will pray and repent as needed —
Remember the drought and dearth and the answer in Elijah’s day.  Remember also Nineveh, Cape Town, and turn to the Lord of the heavens (and of the rain).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/world/africa/cape-town-day-zero.html
Dangerously Low on Water, Cape Town Now Faces ‘Day Zero’

***
Ooh, these big media things scare me, but Jim Caviezel (who played Christ in Mel Gibson’s first “Passion of the Christ”) does seem to be giving a strong call to witness for the Gospel.  Last time, there was much controversy over Gibson’s work, and some hyper fundamentals were even upset to see a dramatic portrayal of the actual physical Christ.  Indeed, when these matters are set before the world and all its worldliness, the forces and the spirit of antichrist will try any means to pervert the message of the Gospel.  May God oversee Mel and do the actual spiritual “directing” in this venture.  May Christ and the Common Salvation be glorified in spite of RCC elements, etc.  May the God of the Bible and of His Christ be glorified.  (It is often, if not always, that when the enemy of God mentions the name Jesus, even if grossly inaccurately or profanely, that the Name and Message still prevails.  It is The Powerful Name, and it has a Marvelous Way of taking care of Itself…and causing hungry hearts to take note…even when the messenger may be twisted hollywood.) (…and our job remains to defend the Truth…sorting out the errors and pressing on in the deliverance of souls and minds for His Name’s Sake, Jude 3.)

http://www.wnd.com/2018/01/jim-caviezel-new-passion-of-the-christ-to-be-biggest-film-in-history/
Jim Caviezel: New 'Passion of the Christ' to be 'biggest film in history'
(excerpts):  
“The Resurrection. Big subject.” Gibson said. “We’re trying to craft this in a way that’s cinematically compelling and enlightening so that it shines new light, if possible, without creating some weird thing.”
Earlier this month in Chicago, Caviezel warned against false Christianity, and urged believers to publicly voice their faith in “this pagan world.”
“I want you to go out into this pagan world, I want you to have the courage to step into this pagan world and shamelessly express your faith in public. The world needs proud warriors animated by their faith,” he told the Fellowship of Catholic University Students SLS Leadership Conference.
“Warriors like Saint Paul and Saint Luke who risked their names, their reputations to take their faith, their love for Jesus into the world.
“God is calling each one of us, each one of you to do great things but how often we fail to respond, dismissing it as some mental blurp. It’s time for our generation, now, to accept that call, the call of God urging all of us to give ourselves entirely to Him.”
“Set yourselves apart from this corrupt generation,” the actor continued. “Be saints. You weren’t made to fit in. You were born to stand out.”
“We must shake off this indifference, this destructive tolerance of evil. But only our faith and the wisdom of Christ can save us,” he said. “But it requires warriors, ready to risk their reputations, their names, even our very lives, to stand for the truth.”
“By God, we must live,” Caviezel concluded, “and with the Holy Spirit as your shield and Christ as your sword, may you join St. Michael and all the angels in sending Lucifer and his henchmen straight right back to hell where they belong!”

***
(February 1)
More on…”It’s a fake, fake, fake, fake, fake world!”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/31/technology/100000005710760.app.html?emc=edit_ta_20180131&nl=top-stories&nlid=69381998&ref=cta
Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries Into Fake Accounts
Federal and state authorities are investigating the sellers of artificial followers and other fraudulent social media engagement.
More than a million followers have disappeared from the accounts of dozens of prominent Twitter users in recent days as the company faces growing criticism over the proliferation of fake accounts and scrutiny from federal and state inquiries into the shadowy firms that sell fake followers. … …
***
Police and Media call it copy-catting.  Believers can see an evil spirit moving through demographics —  here, high schoolers going mad with a dozen shooting incidents in the first month of this new year alone.
In this case, it may be “just an accident”?  …or is it a devil rampaging among studentry through the hands of one of them?  But Why is a 12 year old girl backpacking a semi-automatic pistol to school?

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-belmont-high-shooting-20180201-story.html
Four students injured in classroom shooting at L.A. middle school; 12-year-old girl in custody
***
(February 2)
Jared Kushner, a new pragmatist, is getting results.  He has spotted and is working with new desires for peace with Israel among a whole contingent of Islam and a new generation of it.  Ezekiel first mentions the deep, quaking schism that will see one part of Islam drawing back from the coming war on Israel while the other multitude rushes in:  “Sheba and Dedan (Arabian Saudi and non-Persian/Iranian Islam)…shall say unto thee (to the invading army against Jerusalem),  Art thou come to take a spoil?  hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” (38:13)

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/dont-ignore-kushners-quiet-mideast-gains-24256
Don't Ignore Kushner's Quiet Mideast Gains

(excerpt): First, he recognizes that Iran now matters more to the Arabs than Palestine. With Iran and Islamic militants threatening the survival of major Arab states, many Arab leaders have quietly decided to align with Israel—dialing down their interest in the Palestinian drama. Consider that President Trump’s plan to move the United States’ embassy in Israel to Jerusalem did not touch off huge protests in Arab capitals or angry editorials in the Arab press. Kushner was one of the strongest voices inside the White House in favor of the long-promised move. Any other mediator would fret that the move would needlessly complicate his job. Kushner knows that Iran has replaced Palestine as the center of Arab interest, and he spotted an opportunity that few in Washington saw.

***
California Homelessness, another terror for all effected?  Below the urban gloss of digitized materialism, are many returning to nomadic tribalism and facing raw Nature as they huddle around the cubbies of civilized life?

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-homeless-how-we-got-here-20180201-story.html
L.A.’s homelessness surged 75% in six years
(excerpt):  Tent cities stretch from the Antelope Valley desert to the Santa Monica coast, with stopovers in unlikely communities — even Bel-Air, where a homeless cooking fire was implicated in December's Skirball fire.
During an October hygiene survey, county public health officials identified 222 encampments, including 50 with 30 or more people living in them. These ragtag outposts have altered the basic terms of urban life.
People in Koreatown step outside their fancy condos to find tents, rotting food and human feces at their doorsteps. Buses and trains have become de facto shelters, and thousands of people sleep in fear and degradation.

***
“The marriage of the ordinary and the extraordinary.” says the Director of “The Shape of Water” in a NYTimes review clip.  I am not going to see this movie nor try to comment in depth, but this brief clip confirms my suspicion that this is another in the long genre of “Beauty and the Beast” mythologies and cultural human memory undercurrents of the meeting of lonely human-like alien creatures and a curious and empathetic young women— in brief, the mythos (but also an actuality) of the Nephilim, the entrance of the Fallen Angels into the world of humans, who “saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” (Gen. 6:2)

https://www.nytimes.com/video/movies/100000005701986/anatomy-of-a-scene-the-florida-project.html
Anatomy of a Scene / The Shape of Water

***
BRACE YOURSELVES!   (Big Bang Theory’s Galecki, “Leonard,” and company weigh in with “Living Biblically.”)

Saints, All of us take some Romans 14 personal liberties, and even Paul seemed to be knowledgeable of Greek Olympian sports, for instance, in his day, and used them in his teaching illustrations.  But there are other things each serious disciple cannot allow for himself.  I sometimes use electric blues to do street outreach, and admit I still like the musical art of The Rolling Stones, but I will not personally listen to one of their old songs in which Lucifer is purportedly directly addressing the hearer, “Pleased to meet you; hoped you guessed my name…”  Likewise, in the last TV season, out came a FOX “romantic sitcom” titled Lucifer.  In my personal life, I will not truck having anything to do with this Chief Usurper.  I won’t “entertain” him in any way.  I won’t even watch an ad for this show.  It is “sympathy for the devil,” and though likely well written and “funny,” I will not elect to co-exist with it, not so much as to even watch an ad for it.  God help me and preserve me in my frailties.  

Now, I want to warn you about a new television sit-comedy-offering premiering February 26;  it is called “Living Biblically.”  While Christians, being very mortal and flawed also, can always use a good chiding, and a bit of fun-poking, and can learn from such; nevertheless a serious attack on the Word of God itself can be no laughing matter.  I have not seen so much as a trailer of this new comedy to date, but I expect a good deal of ribbing at self-righteous interpretations of Scripture, at many jokes built around uncovered hypocrisy of the believers, at many gaffes of many kinds in trying to live an authentic biblical life in the midst of a post-modern, decadent, proud society of the world, certain of its own “righteousness” as it plunges multitudes into hell.  Some of the writers’ observations will be just plain stupid as the Bible does not teach us to return to robes and togas and such, but rather just to be modest in our modern dress, but other things may be a direct assault on the gravity, dignity, and authority of the Word.  I will probably watch some of this show just to prepare myself for being mocked as a fool by the world for being a Christian.  But, we should take heed that if this turns out as I suspect it will, it could be a herald of widespread persecution within the American Culture.  We should brace ourselves and continue steadfastly in the Faith, following the First Psalms blessings for “the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

http://tvline.com/2017/12/01/cbs-premiere-dates-2018-living-biblically-instinct/

***
Demon possession acting through a faceless character entering through cyberspace, The Slender Man, results in long, life-ending sentences for young girls who attempted ritual murdered on their friend.  God save!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/us/slender-man-case-sentencing.html?emc=edit_th_180202&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Teenager in ‘Slender Man’ Stabbing Gets 40 Years in Mental Hospital
A Wisconsin teenager was sentenced on Thursday to 40 years in a psychiatric hospital for trying to kill a friend to gain the favor of Slender Man, a fictional internet character.
The girl, Morgan Geyser, 15, pleaded guilty last year to attempted first-degree intentional homicide as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek prison time. Her lawyers and doctors said that when she and another friend, Anissa Weier, who were both 12 at the time, committed the crime, Ms. Geyser was delusional as a result of schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder. (Ms. Weier pleaded guilty to a lesser charge — being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide — and was sentenced in December to 25 years in a psychiatric hospital.) … …
***
Culture Wars at the Federal level —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/us/first-amendment-education-bill.html?emc=edit_th_180202&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Republicans Stuff Education Bill With Conservative Social Agenda
Religious colleges would be able to bar openly same-sex relationships without fear of repercussions.
Religious student groups could block people who do not share their faith from becoming members.
Controversial speakers would have more leverage when they want to appear at colleges.
A 590-page higher-education bill working its way through Congress is a wish list for a wide range of people, groups and colleges saying that their First Amendment rights — freedom of speech, religion or assembly — are being trampled. Many of them are religious, right-leaning or both, and the Republicans behind the bill have eagerly taken up the cause, correcting what they see as antipathy toward conservative beliefs on American campuses. … …

***
(February 4)
Should we root for the Eagles this day? …to make sure Nick Foles becomes the high school pastor for which he feels the call?  (I have a feeling that win or lose, he knows where to head next.  A good testimony of him and other Christian players —
http://www.fox29.com/news/local-news/nick-foles-plans-to-become-a-pastor-after-football-career
Nick Foles plans to become a pastor after football career
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - Nick Foles has a calling far greater than throwing touchdown passes.
If Foles leads the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, he'll become a folk hero in a city that has desperately waited for a championship since 1960.
But that won't define Foles in the big picture. He has more important plans for his future. … …
***

Nearly here — a biometric economy. Doubtless, two or three comparative checks — face, fingerprints, vein patterns, or whatever will be used to rule out forgery, but this total identity will serve well The Mark of the Beast.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/679105/Selfie-pay-facial-recognition-big-brother-watch
Selfie pay: Security fears as facial recognition set to revolutionise payments
A LEADING privacy group has warned that so-called selfie pay is another massive step towards a “Big Brother” society.
Facial recognition ID is predicted to replace cash and cards in future as a standard form of payments.
Just last week it emerged MasterCard customers will be able to pay for their shopping by using a selfie from April next year.
Mark Barnett, from Mastercard, said: “Biometric technologies perfectly meet the public’s expectation for state-of-the-art security when making a payment.
"This will be of great benefit to everyone: consumers, retailers and banks.”
Chinese HSBC consumers have been happy to flash their faces at their smartphones when paying for stuff in the past 12 months.
The Alibaba app also allows KFC customers in China to prove their identity and pay for grub by simply looking at a checkout 3D camera.
Another step in the facial recognition revolution was announced in November by a British start-up firm called Yoti which plans to trial a supermarket app from 2018.
This works by pairing a selfie with an official document such as a passport or driving licence which can be verified by Yoti staff.
But Yoti insists it has no access to the database and envisions the revolutionary system could work in pubs, nightclubs and even on dating sites. … …
*The Culprits?

https://nypost.com/2018/02/03/big-techs-monopolistic-rule-is-hiding-in-plain-sight/
Tech giants are the robber barons of our time
America’s biggest tech giants are nothing if not popular. Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon rank as some of the most well-liked brands in the world. Pollsters find that 86 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of Google and 80 percent share a favorable impression of Amazon. The reason is simple — these companies’ products are entertaining, accessible and seemingly cheap.
But their growing dominance is giving rise to an insidious trend that we shouldn’t so happily accept. Just last week, billionaire philanthropist George Soros gave a speech in Davos, Switzerland, in which he attacked Facebook and Google for “inducing people to give up their autonomy” and driving inequality. He’s not wrong. In fact, tech giants are just like the monopolists and robber barons that ruled the American economy a century ago. But, while Standard Oil’s monopoly was as obvious as the smoke-belching refineries it controlled, the powers of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon are less transparent — if not entirely secret. … …

***

O, to hear the only thing that counts!

Well done, thou good and faithful servant…
…enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
(see Mt. 25:21)

***********************************************************
If your browser does not support the clickable link with each story, just cut and paste it to your browser's address line.   For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

January 28

Saints,

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion…”  (Psalm 2, read the whole)

Ezekiel 37:1, 5-6: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones…
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
Galatians 6:9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” 

***

News of the week; the world totters on —

(January 22)
The whole world spooks over globalism.  Macron the globalist admits the French would “Frexit” if asked in a referendum (which he refuses to allow). — The Beast will rise, but he will rise in “troublous times.”
Daniel (7:24) prophesies that three kings will resist the Beast in his early alliances.  Will France be one of them?
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/907719/Macron-France-vote-to-LEAVE-EU-referendum-Brexit-Brussels-Marr
EU BOMBSHELL: Macron admits France would vote to LEAVE EU if country held referendum
FRENCH president Emmanuel Macron shocked Andrew Marr during their interview when he admitted that had France held a referendum on membership of the EU after Brexit, the French people would vote to leave. … …

***
Is CRISPR-Cas9 the same technology that polluted the germline genetics of all but Noah and his family in the fallen world before the Flood (Gen 6:8-13)?  Said Solomon, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ec. 1:9)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-unhampered-by-rules-races-ahead-in-gene-editing-trials-1516562360
China, Unhampered by Rules, Races Ahead in Gene-Editing Trials
U.S. scientists helped devise the Crispr biotechnology tool. First to test it in humans are Chinese doctors
(excerpt):Rewriting life’s building blocks, however, is fraught with scientific and ethical quandaries. One: Crispr might make unintended irreversible changes in people that may not emerge for years.

***
Will super-efficient, AI-driven, robotic business systems quickly enslave / thrall / drive  humans?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/amazon-drivers-win-legal-battle-11885217
Drivers delivering Amazon parcels win legal battle which keeps 'Draconian working conditions' secret but could help 15,000 claim back pay

***
Big Brother Google?

http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/19/google-youtube-censorship-demonetize-hate-speech/
Google Has An Actual Secret Speech Police
(excerpt):  It’s not just terrorist videos that Google is censoring. Jordan B. Peterson, a professor known for opposing political correctness, had one of his videos blocked in 28 countries earlier this month. A note sent to Peterson’s account said YouTube had “received a legal complaint” about the video and decided to block it.

***

India’s engagement to the Beast, an initial experiment in mass biometric ID, failing badly as supposed recipients starve —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/21/opinion/india-aadhaar-biometric-id.html?emc=edit_th_180122&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Why India’s Big Fix Is a Big Flub
NEW DELHI — Aadhaar, India’s grand program to provide a unique 12-digit identification number to each of its 1.3 billion residents, appears to be collapsing under its own ambitions.
When it was set up by the Congress Party-led government in 2009, it was touted as a voluntary biometric ID system that would ensure the smooth delivery of public services — notably welfare benefits and subsidized food for the poor — while limiting the risk of fraud.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, then the main opposition party, was among the project’s fiercest critics at first, calling it too costly and a “political gimmick.” But after it came to power, in May 2014, the B.J.P. went further than Congress had ever dreamed of: Since then, it has made Aadhaar mandatory for accessing numerous public services, as well as for some private transactions.
So far, Aadhaar — “the foundation” in Hindi — seems to have helped neither with welfare nor against corruption, all the while creating new problems, including by exposing people’s personal data to theft or predation by the private sector.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court began hearings in a long-running collective case challenging the program’s constitutionality. In their opening statement, the petitioners argued that Aadhaar, if fully implemented, would “reduce citizens to servitude,” since not having an Aadhaar number — that “electronic leash” — in effect meant “civil death.” … …

***

(January 23)
As AI GPS Apps jam unused streets with non-local cars to speed up their users’ travels, local humans resist —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/nyregion/leonia-gps-navigation-apps.html?emc=edit_th_180123&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
New Jersey Town Aims to Keep App-Guided Outsiders Off Its Streets
LEONIA, N.J. — Monday was Day 1 of this borough’s unusual response to a deluge of traffic from navigation apps, and change was in the air.
Perhaps it was the scores of “Do Not Enter” signs newly placed at the foot of streets across the borough, with the affected hours, and a small indication that residents are exempt. Or the 3,000 yellow tags that now hang in residents’ vehicles, allowing local police to tell with a quick glance whether a vehicle is from out of town.
Or maybe it was just the handful of news helicopters that hovered above the borough at 5:45 a.m., ready to document what Leonia had wrought by instituting a near-total ban on out-of-town motorists on its streets during the morning and afternoon rush hours. … …

***

7.9 (later reported as 8.2) off Alaska, and Pacific Ring of Fire Heats Up All Around the Rim with Earthquakes and Volcanoes — What next? Los Angeles? San Francisco? Mt. St. Helens?

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/URGENT-Earthquake-strike-off-Alaska-coast-470654243.html
Tsunami warnings canceled following massive Gulf of Alaska quake
(January 24)
Sure!?  “Don’t worry. Everything’s fine!”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/scientists-rash-earthquakes-volcanic-eruptions-ring-fire-connected/story?id=52548632
Scientists say rash of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on 'Ring of Fire' not connected
Volcanic eruptions in Japan, the Philippines and Bali. Massive earthquakes in Alaska and Indonesia.
The rash of natural disasters over the past two days have one common denominator: they all occurred along the so-called Ring of Fire, a sprawling horseshoe-shape geological disaster zone. 
At least five different events occurred on the Ring of Fire on Monday and Tuesday, including a magnitude 7.9 earthquake that rattled the town of Kodiak, Alaska, and the eruption of Mount Kusatsu-Shirane near a ski resort northwest of Tokyo.
While the series of cataclysmic activity has come in rapid succession, scientists say most of them occurred thousands of miles apart and there is nothing to suggest they are connected.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/908699/alaska-earthquake-tsunami-warning-mount-st-helens-volcano-orange-alert-eruption
Alaska earthquake: Fears grow for Mount St Helens volcano ERUPTION after 8.2 quake
THE 8.2 magnitude earthquake that has triggered tsunami warnings off the coast of Alaska has sparked fears it could awaken America's most deadly volcano Mount St Helens, with the 8,363ft mountain's threat level at "very high" as shockwaves rattle the northwest states.

***

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men (general humanity) shall be…disobedient to parents…without natural affection…incontinent (insane)…fierce…”  (2 Tim. 3:1ff)  Even more frightening is that the world is getting very used to such as these things happening daily.  This is a sign of grave apostasy in which the prophetic warnings shall be mocked and men will say, “Ah, since the beginning it has been so…” and, “We will not fear…we will get over it and rebuild all the better…”  (By the next morning, I had to hunt to find the news pieces on this as Drudge ignored it {but I found more stories in the same time span}.  News cycles are now very short on such news.  Is this a “ho-hum” attitude, or just “small news” by now, or is it policy to keep the public drowsy?)

Mayhem in the schools—

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/23/kentucky-school-shooting-leaves-2-students-dead-18-others-injured-officials-say.html
Kentucky school shooting leaves 2 students dead, 18 others injured, officials say

In this same time span, similar crimes occur —

http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/18/boy-12-opens-fire-on-students-and-teachers-at-american-school-in-mexico-6389462/

Boy, 15, opens fire on teacher and fellow students at school

https://thehornnews.com/15-year-old-girl-shot-texas-school-fellow-student/
15-year-old girl shot at Texas school by fellow student

(January 24)
Whew!  I didn’t know it was this bad!  School is now a war zone?!  NYTimes acknowledges this morning —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-school-shooting.html
School Shooting in Kentucky Is Nation’s 11th of Year. It’s Jan. 23.
ATLANTA — On Tuesday, it was a high school in small-town Kentucky. On Monday, a school cafeteria outside Dallas and a charter school parking lot in New Orleans. And before that, a school bus in Iowa, a college campus in Southern California, a high school in Seattle.
Gunfire ringing out in American schools used to be rare, and shocking. Now it seems to happen all the time.
The scene in Benton, Ky., on Tuesday was the worst so far in 2018: Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured. But it was one of at least 11 shootings on school property recorded since Jan. 1, and roughly the 50th of the academic year.
Researchers and gun control advocates say that since 2013, they have logged school shootings at a rate of about one a week.
“We have absolutely become numb to these kinds of shootings, and I think that will continue,” said Katherine W. Schweit, a former senior F.B.I. official and the co-author of a study of 160 active shooting incidents in the United States. …

***
Every saint (regenerated Christian by New Testament definition) makes a difference, even in the larger and whole world, if he will but walk in obedience and watch and pray —

bereancall.org Daily Update for January 23
The man...looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, "Now Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese Empire?" "No sir," said Morrison, "but I expect that God will."
--Robert Morrison (5 January 1782 - 1 August 1834, English missionary to China)

***

Frankly, Angela, the world’s problems are becoming too complex and arriving too fast for any government, nationalist or globalist, to manage.  Are you ready for the Antichrist, Chancellor Merkel?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/24/germany-has-difficulties-and-polarization-that-we-havent-seen-for-decades-merkel-tells-davos.html
German leader Merkel says the current world order is under threat
German leader Angela Merkel said that multilateralism was under threat and said that protectionism is not the answer to the world's problems.

"Frankly speaking, the country I have the honor to represent and where I am chancellor has difficulties. And polarization is something that we see in our country as well, which we haven't had for decades," Merkel said.
She attributed increasing populism and polarization to both the euro zone crisis and migration crisis seen in Europe over the last few years following an influx of refugees, but said Germany would not shrink from the world stage.

"Germany wishes to be a country that lends its contribution in the future to solve the problems of the world together, we think that shutting ourselves off and isolating ourselves will not lead us into a good future. Protectionism is not the proper answer," she said.
Merkel is just the latest leader at Davos to criticize a protectionist and isolationist stance towards the world’s problems. Such comments appear to be directed towards President Donald Trump who has adopted an "America First" stance in his foreign and economic policies. … …

***
(January 25)
The very headline denial should give us the creeps!  Monkeys, though primates, the most similar animals to humans in form, do not have redeemable souls, but man may be able to clone human bodies soon.  Will their “life force” be demons or some combo of demonic, tech cyborgery, genetic alteration and mixture with other life forms, etc?  These are the days that are “as in the days of Noah,” which the Lord spoke of as signaling his return.  These are “the return of the Nephilim,” and the doctrines of the fallen angels and their hybrid offspring, which are the Nephilim (see Genesis 6).  They cannot be saved but will fill the Earth with violence as in Noah’s day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/science/cloned-monkeys-china.html?emc=edit_th_180125&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Yes, They’ve Cloned Monkeys in China. That Doesn’t Mean You’re Next.
Researchers in China reported on Wednesday that they have created two cloned monkeys, the first time that primates have been cloned with the technique that produced Dolly the sheep more than 20 years ago.
The long-tailed macaques, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua were made from fetal cells grown in a petri dish. The clones are identical twins and carry the DNA of the monkey fetus that originally provided the cells, according to a study published in the journal Cell. They were born at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.
Dolly the sheep was produced from udder cells that had been frozen for six years. Until that feat, many researchers had thought that type of cloning was impossible, because it required taking adult cells and bringing them back to their original state, when sperm first fertilized egg.
The cell would then have to start to grow in a surrogate’s womb and to differentiate into an entire animal, genetically identical to the one that provided the initial cell.
But once cloning proved possible, researchers began improving their method and testing it on other species. Since Dolly was born, researchers have cloned 23 mammal species, including cattle, cats, deer, dogs, horses, mules, oxen, rabbits and rats.
The new monkey clones stand out, though. “It’s the first primate ever to be cloned,” said Dr. Leonard Zon, director of the stem cell program at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We are closer to humans than we’ve ever been before.”… …

***
More on the Trojan Horse fueling the Opioid Crisis which is slaughtering entranced Americans by the hundreds and thousands —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/us/politics/senate-investigation-china-mail-opioids.html?emc=edit_th_180125&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Online Sales of Illegal Opioids from China Surge in U.S.
WASHINGTON — Nearly $800 million worth of fentanyl pills were illegally sold to online customers in the United States over two years by Chinese distributors who took advantage of internet anonymity and an explosive growth in e-commerce, according to a Senate report released on Wednesday.
A yearlong Senate investigation found that American buyers of the illegal drugs lived mostly in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. The Chinese sellers primarily used Bitcoin, the digital currency, as their preferred method of payment and shipped the drugs through other countries to reduce the risk of the opioids being seized by customs officials, Senate investigators said. … …

***
Dark Pagan Superstitions Descended from Ancient Babylon?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/world/asia/india-hindu-muslim-padmavati-movie.html?emc=edit_th_180125&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
India Braces for Opening of Film That Has Hindu Extremists Enraged
NEW DELHI — Police forces across India have reinforced security for the Thursday opening of a contentious film that has prompted hundreds of women to threaten mass suicide and other people to threaten murder.
The film, “Padmaavat,”  is a lavish Bollywood epic about a Hindu queen, Padmavati, who was so beautiful, legend has it, that a Muslim ruler besieges her entire kingdom to have her. Instead of submitting, Padmavati commits suicide, etching herself into Hindu legend for centuries as a symbol of honor, self-sacrifice and Hindu spirit.
Extremist Hindu groups have whipped up crowds against the film, claiming that it distorts history and disrespects their legendary queen.
They have all kinds of complaints: Padmavati’s clothes are too skimpy; a dream sequence between her and the Muslim invader is inappropriate; the story has been twisted and Padmavati’s heroism has been cheapened. One group of 300 women has petitioned the Indian government for the right to kill themselves over the film. … …(emphases added)

***
(January 26)
Google (which most of us need to use often) caught with its proverbial pants down with Home Assistant, a pawn of the spirit of antichrist?
http://fox17.com/news/local/does-google-home-know-who-jesus-is-brentwood-resident-says-no
Does Google Home know who Jesus is? Brentwood resident says no
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — 
Audio technology like Google Home and Amazon's Alexa are becoming a dominant source for information.
But now, it appears one of the most common names is unknown to Google Home. And some people are sounding the alarm about what the technology tells you when you ask about Jesus.
Brentwood resident David Sams owns a Google Home and an Amazon audio speaker. He says both give two different answers when asking "Who is Jesus Christ?"
"I even asked Google who is David Sams? Google knew who I was, but Google did not know who Jesus was, Google did not know who Jesus Christ was, and Google did not know who God was," Sams said.
Smart speakers are a technology owned by about 40 million Americans -- that's about one in six people in the nation.
And this religious conversation at home is making waves on social media.
Comments, videos and test results posted asking "Who is Jesus?"
The general response from Google Home is "I'm not sure how to help you with that."
There's still no response from the Google company on why.
"It's kinda scary, it's almost like Google has taken Jesus and God out of smart audio," Sams said. "First it started with schools."
Google Home refers to Jesus Christ when asking about the Last Supper and even Saint Peter.
And there's plenty of information on the prophet Muhammed, Buddha -- even Satan.
Nashville resident Martin Collins says she thinks this feeds into a bigger problem.
They took prayer out of schools, they think just taking Jesus out of everything is politically correct these days and I think that's the stem of a lot of our problems," Collins said.
Collins has no doubt Google has purposefully programmed Jesus out of its audio speakers.
"To keep from stepping on toes, political correctness," Collin said. "That seems to be more important these days than what's right and what's wrong."
Sams is calling for answers from Google as it's become a main source of information readily available that so many are coming to depend on.
"I don't know if there's some kind of wizard making these decisions or if it's some kind of oversight," Sams said. "But whatever it is, they need to address it immediately."

***
Scientists expecting major seismic events for 2018.  
http://www.newsweek.com/california-pummeled-earthquakes-including-58-coast-791229
CALIFORNIA ROCKED BY THREE EARTHQUAKES IN ONE DAY, SCIENTISTS EXPECT MORE TO COME IN 2018
Three earthquakes hit California on Thursday, one as far south as Trabuco Canyon and a second all the way up to a spot off the coast of Eureka, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)A third earthquake struck near Lytle Creek, California, registering a 2.5 on the Richter scale. Trabuco Canyon, which is close to Lytle Creek, registered 4.0. Both cities are near Los Angeles.The northernmost earthquake, closest to Eureka, registered a 5.8 on the Richter scale. However, because it hit 100 miles off the coastline, the vibrations were not as strong when they reached land. ABC7 reports that residents of Ferndale, California, in Humboldt County, felt the earthquake, but there are currently no reports of damage or injuries.
According to the USGS, when the earthquake hit at 8:39 a.m., the ripples of seismic activity reached from the southern coast of Oregon to nearly Ukiah, California, about 400 miles away.
Over the past seven days, California has experienced 15 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater up and down the state, including two that hit off the coast in the Pacific Ocean.
Many of the tremors occurred near or along the San Andreas fault, where tectonic plates shift along the western edge of the state. The San Andreas fault is known to be particularly prone to earthquakes, and scientists believe that it will someday rock the state with “The Big One.”
Smaller earthquakes often precede bigger ones, but it’s hard to say whether this activity is indicative of a bigger earthquake to come, and if so, when. … …

***
(January 27)
Local and statewide License Plate Readers have probably a decade of use by now, but now a new Federal program, via a contractor to avoid legal privacy issues, is being set up by ICE to track aliens, but we will all suffer the same privacy loss.  Robotic machine AI intelligence ultimately “wants” to track and control everyone in every instant of life.  These godlike qualities of omnipresence and omniscience  are ultimately “logical” to a machine mind as humans do many deeply illogical things, but its logical goal will be to de-humanize us and make us utterly conformed to its machine mentality.  These are the shades of the Beast forming.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/26/16932350/ice-immigration-customs-license-plate-recognition-contract-vigilant-solutions
Exclusive: ICE is about to start tracking license plates across the US
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians. … …

additional excerpts:

While it collects few photos itself, Vigilant Solutions has amassed a database of more than 2 billion license plate photos by ingesting data from partners like vehicle repossession agencies and other private groups. Vigilant also partners with local law enforcement agencies,  often collecting even more data from camera-equipped police cars. The result is a massive vehicle-tracking network generating as many as 100 million sightings per month, each tagged with a date, time, and GPS coordinates of the sighting.

ICE agents would be able to query that database in two ways. A historical search would turn up every place a given license plate has been spotted in the last five years, a detailed record of the target’s movements. That data could be used to find a given subject’s residence or even identify associates if a given car is regularly spotted in a specific parking lot. …

…For civil liberties groups, the implications go far beyond immigration. “There are people circulating in our society who are undocumented,” says senior policy analyst Jay Stanley, who studies license plate readers with the ACLU. “Are we as a society, out of our desire to find those people, willing to let our government create an infrastructure that will track all of us?” …

…Still, the biggest concern for critics is the sheer scale of Vigilant’s network, assembled almost entirely outside of public accountability. “If ICE were to propose a system that would do what Vigilant does, there would be a huge privacy uproar and I don’t think Congress would approve it,” Stanley says. “But because it’s a private contract, they can sidestep that process.” … …
***
Warnings?

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Jose-earthquake-brings-Bay-Area-total-to-7-in-12527849.php
San Jose earthquake brings Bay Area total to 7 in last week
In a week littered with earthquakes and even a tsunami watch along the California coast, the Bay Area experienced yet another, yet softer quake on Thursday night.

***
The ongoing bloodbath in Afghanistan —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/world/asia/afghanistan-kabul-attack.html?emc=edit_na_20180127&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998&ref=cta&mtrref=undefined&gwh=76A498ACB2BAFFA256C250FA640DFD37&gwt=pay
“It’s a massacre.” A bomb in an ambulance killed at least 63 people in Kabul, days after another major Taliban attack in the Afghan capital.
death count update: 95
***
(January 28)
It’s a fake, fake, fake, fake, fake world…

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/technology/schneiderman-social-media-bots.html
New York Attorney General to Investigate Firm That Sells Fake Followers
At least 55,000 of its “bot” accounts used names, pictures, hometowns and other details taken from people on Twitter. The real users hailed from every U.S. state, including New York, and dozens of countries, a Times analysis found.
“Impersonation and deception are illegal under New York law,” Mr. Schneiderman wrote on Twitter. “We’re opening an investigation into Devumi and its apparent sale of bots using stolen identities.”
The investigation is the latest in a series of federal and state inquiries into the commercial and political abuse of fake accounts on social media. Tens of millions of fake accounts have been deployed to defraud businesses, influence political debates online and attract customers.
Social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, have drawn intense scrutiny for not taking greater steps to weed them out. Many of the accounts identified by The Times appear to violate Twitter’s own policies, but remained active on the social media platform for years, each retweeting and promoting Devumi customers. … …

A second one on “the Matrix Delusion” attempting to influence every one of us —
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html
The Follower Factory
“Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people,” said Rami Essaid, the founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specializes in eradicating bot networks. “You can’t take any tweet at face value. And not everything is what it seems.” … …

***

“…when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
Matthew 24:33
“…when you see these signs all taken together coming to pass, you may know of a certainty that He is near, at the very doors.”
Amplified Version

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January 21

Saints,

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn 14:27).  In these days let us follow on with Abraham who said “Hineni,” “Here am I,” and with Martin Luther who said, “Here I stand.  I cannot do otherwise.”  Add to these Athanasius, the champion of Trinitarian Orthodoxy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria), who is reported to have answered, when in danger from his detractors, of whom he was told, “Athanasius, the whole world is against you!” —  said, “You go and tell the whole world that Athanasius is against it!”

Topping my bill this week is Ambassador Andrew Young’s Amazing Witness—

It sparks my own personal testimony:  When I came to the Lord 44 years ago, I was steeped in liberal to extreme progressive, leftist political views and satanized, sorcerous “spiritual” values.  Consequently, in my sudden new experiences with repentance in being “born again” and for real, I found myself tempted instead to ultra-conservatism and almost fell into the Jerry Falwell camp of the so-called “Moral Majority” at the time.  But the Spirit of the Lord lifted me up and showed me that while the world would go on and political machinery would continue cranking out fine-sounding rhetoric and arguments on both sides and all along its continuum, my job now was to stay close to the Lord and the plain issues of his Gospel.  Certainly as moral issues arose in the world, handy to be politicized, I should take advantage of them to publish his Truth, yet, I should be careful not to get caught up in them and so led off into issue after issue, but be “…in the world but not of the world.”

It is easy for the biblical-authority Christian to equate with American political conservatism, but we must be careful and remember that while God forbids stealing and seems to put forward free enterprise, hard work, and applied genius that also both the God of the Old Testament, Who provided Jubilees of freedom, and advocated for the oppressed, and both Jesus and John the Baptist in the New Testament too, held up a kind of divine socialism, “Have you two coats?  Sell one and give to the poor,” etc.  So that, we must be careful to hold up biblical morality and justice without getting caught up in the endless issues of iniquity (inequity) that fuel the world and its politics.

Consequently, I have paid less and less attention to political civil rights issues (of all kinds), and while I have long heard of Civil Rights’ icon, and later US Ambassador Andrew Young, I have not for a long time followed his career or paid much attention to him.  I have assumed the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) was Christian pretty-much-in-name-only and was a leftist agenda machine.  BUT, he has completely surprised me, and granting him the benefit of the doubt that he is speaking truthfully, has GREATLY BLESSED ME in his recent word of Christian testimony in an interview with Chuck Todd of Meet the Press on this last Sunday, January 14.  I encourage you to listen to it.  Even mighty, cunning, insistent and voracious interviewer and reporter, Mr. Todd, was brought to a humble respect by brother Andrew Young’s wise and clear testimony of Christ our Lord.  May God continue to bless and keep him in his life, his work, his causes, and always direct him by the Gospel.  (And Chuck, bow the knee and be saved too.) —

The longer version: well worth a few minutes—
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&p=Andrew+Young+meet+the+Press+interview+video#id=6&vid=0607fff68303e02865e40dd3cd9f881d&action=click

The short version —
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/civil-rights-leader-on-trump-all-men-sin-but-everyone-is-redeemable-1136818755806

***
(January 15)
First Amendment holds a little longer, thank the Lord!

http://www.wnd.com/2018/01/criminal-charges-against-street-preachers-dismissed/
CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST STREET PREACHERS DISMISSED
A group of five Washington state Christian street preachers who received prior approval of their public evangelism efforts but were nevertheless charged criminally under the guise of violating a noise ordinance won dismissals with the assistance of a nonprofit First Amendment legal defense group.
Police in Washougal, Washington, cited the five for disturbing the peace outside a high school in November. The group obtained approval for their activities from a code enforcement officer prior to the incident.
The street preachers stood on a public sidewalk at the edge of the high-school parking lot, holding signs and speaking to students as they left school after classes had ended. A school resource officer of the Washougal Police Department confronted the street preachers, stating they were breaking the city noise ordinance and telling them the school did not welcome their “protesting.”
One of the criminally charged preachers, who is not named, reportedly spent many years under the iron grip of the former Soviet Union. He held a sign with a Bible verse, handed out gospel tracts to students, and told them, “Jesus loves you.” The aggressive reaction from the school and the police reminded him of similar harassment and complaints to the KGB in response to his preaching in Russia, his attorney said.
The group was successfully represented by Kevin Snider of the Pacific Justice Institute. All charges were dropped after Snider explained to the prosecuting attorney in detail the unconstitutionality of the city’s ordinance.
“We cannot afford to lose our most basic First Amendment freedoms in America,” said Brad Dacus, president and founder of PJI. “It is sobering that what our clients experienced in this case reminded them of experiences in the former Soviet Union. We commend the prosecutor for agreeing to drop these charges, and we remain vigilant for similar threats to freedom throughout the country.”
In the last six months, PJI has represented numerous public evangelists against criminal charges in California, Nevada, Washington, Pennsylvania, Texas and Michigan.

***

High level, boldfaced lying by…somebody? Trump? Durbin? the Republican senators?… or a twisted, equivocating, two-faced Janus spirit in the air of these high level meeting rooms?  What a day and time we live in?  Truth will prevail in the end, but in the meantime it often “lies trampled in the street.”  God save us.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/us/politics/trump-im-not-a-racist.html?emc=edit_na_20180114&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998&ref=cta
‘I’m Not a Racist,’ Trump Says in Denying Vulgar Comment
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/us/politics/david-perdue-trump-shithole.html?emc=edit_th_180115&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Hopes Dim for DACA Deal as Lawmakers Battle Over Trump’s Immigration Remarks
WASHINGTON — After three days of denunciations from around the world, President Trump declared that he is “not a racist” on Sunday, even as the uproar over his vulgar remarks on immigration overshadowed critical issues facing the capital, including efforts to protect young undocumented immigrants and avert a government shutdown.
Mr. Trump also insisted that he had not made the inflammatory comments in a White House meeting on Thursday, part of a newly aggressive defense and a counterattack on Democrats by the president and his allies. But his remarks on Sunday were a departure from the White House’s initial statement last week, which did not deny the comments. … …
*
Another Case In Point:  breathless reporters stumble over a “d.” Did Trump say “I” or “I’d”?  Whew, infer by context, for heaven’s sake!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/us/politics/trump-wall-street-journal-fake-news.html?emc=edit_th_180115&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Trump Escalates a Dispute With The Wall Street Journal Over a Quotation
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Sunday morning ratcheted up a dispute with The Wall Street Journal, accusing the newspaper of purposely misquoting him as saying in an interview that he has a good relationship with the leader of North Korea.
In two tweets from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., the president applied a familiar denigrating term — “fake news” — to a Journal report on Thursday that said Mr. Trump had boasted during an interview: “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised.”
Mr. Trump insisted that he had actually started his sentence with the contraction “I’d,” not “I,” which would change the meaning from a surprising boast of an existing relationship into a prediction that he could have a good relationship with the dictator if he wanted it. …

***

“The front lines” of the battle.  Pray for freedom of religion for this campus work.  What LBGTs cannot acknowledge is that what love they have is not God’s love but a mix of human affection, lust, and various longings and selfish addictions and appetites, but to practice with their lovers acts that destroy their souls is not real love; it is the vile and violent traffic of Sodom.
(One could suspect that the LGBTs creating these problems are out trolling to cause this very trouble, an “attack”?)  Pray!  Lord God, defend us and deliver us from those who boast in their shame.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/iowa-lawsuit-pits-gay-rights-against-religious-freedom-161237064.html
Iowa lawsuit pits gay rights against religious freedom
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa is caught up in a legal fight with a conservative Christian student group that denied a leadership position to a student who is gay.

***
(January 16)
There has been long debate over whether there are any Eastern Grey Wolves returning to the Eastern US.  Opinions and sitings vary.  But, might they be coming back in the genetic mix of coyotes?  For a real conspiracy theory, could someone be producing mix-ups —such as the monstrosity described in this piece—with CRISPR-Cas9 gene splicing techniques, and then turning them loose?  “Something wicked this way comes?”  Revelation 6:8, concerning animal attacks on humans is a much overlooked prophecy of End of the Age dystopias.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/nyregion/coywolf-coyote-rockland-county.html?emc=edit_th_180116&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
‘Coywolf’ Sightings Grip a Rural New York Community

***
“Eternal life” through ghostly, enhanced and “improved”/produced 3D video holograms of the dead?  Combine these with AI-captured and manipulated “brain uploads,” so-called avatars, cyborg bodies, etc., and are we closing in on the antichrist version of “life eternal”?  This hologram even has reflections of her bright gown on the actual polished stage floor from which she/it? performs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/arts/music/maria-callas-hologram-opera.html?emc=edit_th_180116&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
What a Hologram of Maria Callas Can Teach Us About Opera
When Maria Callas appeared onstage at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Sunday night, she looked a little pale, a little spectral.
This was understandable, perhaps: She has been dead since 1977. This Callas was a three-dimensional hologram, the latest in a series of musical-visual resurrections that have included Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson and Ronnie James Dio. She shared the program, in fact, with Roy Orbison, who died in 1988.
Arguably the greatest singer of the 20th century, Callas — eerily, well, radiant in a white satiny gown and rich red stole — was recreated for the occasion, down to the minutest movements of her hands and the subtlest facial gestures. Her voice, in arias from Bizet’s “Carmen” and Verdi’s “Macbeth,” came from her own recordings, backed by a live orchestra at the Rose Theater. We in the audience saw only about 30 minutes of what will eventually be an evening-length concert. (The finished program, created by a division of the company Base Entertainment, begins an international tour this May in Tokyo.) … …

( additional excerpt): …It was amazing, yet also absurd; strangely captivating, yet also campy and ridiculous. And in a way, it made the most sense of any of the musical holograms produced so far. More than rock or hip-hop fans — and even more, you could say, than fans of instrumental classical music — opera lovers dwell in the past. We are known for our obsessive devotion to dead divas and old recordings; it can sometimes seem like an element of necrophilia, even, drives the most fanatical buffs. … …
(addendum, January 19, Will we all soon have a robot “keeper”? https://www.infowars.com/microsoft-exec-in-20-years-everyone-will-have-a-robot-second-self/)
***

(January 17)
A meteorite strong enough to cause an earthquake strikes southern Michigan overnight.  Seen in six states and Canada.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/earthquake-causing-meteor-leaves-southeast-michigan-residents-awestruck/story?id=52397269
Earthquake-causing meteor leaves southeast Michigan residents awestruck
Residents of southeast Michigan were left a bit shaken Tuesday night after a big bright flash lit up the sky and the ground beneath them shook.
A flying saucer? No. A shooting star? Not quite.
The National Weather Service eventually solved the mystery, tweeting "USGS confirms meteor occurred around 810 pm, causing a magnitude 2.0 earthquake.”

***

The mystery of the Kurds (the ancient Medes?), a people left without a nation when the Ottoman Empire was redistributed.  They stand between Turkey—the lands of Gog and Magog, and Iran which is Persia.  In real part, they just defeated ISIS in the area of its own “caliphate,” and they stand between the hatreds of Syria, Turkey, Russia and others.  They are excellent warriors.  They have been kind to Christians.  May God gather a harvest from among them and also finally give them their own nation.  Are they like “a sort of homeless jews among gentiles”?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/world/middleeast/syria-kurds-force.html?emc=edit_th_180117&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
U.S.-Backed Force Could Cement a Kurdish Enclave in Syria
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A plan to create a new American-backed, Kurdish-led border force in northeastern Syria has raised alarms in the region that the United States may be helping to cement an autonomous Kurdish enclave that could further divide the country.
The 30,000-strong force, vehemently opposed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Syrian government, could also ignite a new phase in the war that could pit American allies against one another and draw the United States deeper into the conflict. … …

***
(January 18)
“Paranoia strikes deep; into your heart it will creep.”  —The band Buffalo Springfield, from a long time ago now in the marijuana chronicles —
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5279825/Cannabis-users-likely-feel-deceived-others.html
Cannabis users are more likely to feel deceived and alienated by others, study finds
	•	Marijuana users are significantly more likely to feel that others wish them harm
	•	Cannabis increases connectivity in the brain regions associated with psychosis
	•	Teenage users are particularly affected as their brains are still developing
	•	Brain activity could be monitored to determine users' mental health risks
	•	In the US, 44 percent of those aged 12 or over have used cannabis at some point

***

All kinds of dystopian attacks loom, but we should not forget that even now over 63,000 died in 2017 in the USA from “the Opioid Crisis,” a massive Trojan Horse attack.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/terrorists-could-use-teslas-to-kill-us/article/2011171
Terrorists Could Use Teslas to Kill Us
A cyber-security war is coming for driverless cars. Here's what it will take to win
It's a calm Saturday morning in August of next year. Suddenly, across the nation, 12,000 Tesla Model S sedans start up at the same time. They engage Tesla's vaunted autopilot feature and head out onto the road. Some of them make their way to local gas stations. Some to electrical substations. And then, as they approach, they accelerate to top speed. The explosions are fantastic as the Model S batteries rupture and spark fires, which ignite anything flammable in the area. The power grid in the Los Angeles area is brought down almost immediately. Hundreds of fires rage. America is under attack. This might sound like science fiction. It's not. … …

***
Praise God!  Christian health workers may not be legally targetable for refusing to participate in abortion, sex-hack operations and the like.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/us/health-care-office-abortion-contraception.html?emc=edit_na_20180118&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69381998&ref=cta
Health Workers Who Oppose Abortion Get New Protections
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was taking new steps to protect doctors, nurses and other health workers who have religious or moral objections to performing abortions or sex-change operations, or providing other medical services.
The move, one day before the annual March for Life in Washington, was a priority for anti-abortion groups.
Administration officials urged people to report discrimination to a new unit of the federal government: the conscience and religious freedom division of the office for civil rights at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Roger Severino, the director of the civil rights office, promised that he and his staff would thoroughly investigate every complaint. … …
For too long, Mr. Severino said, the federal government has ignored such complaints or treated them with “outright hostility.”
Supporters of the new office, like the Family Research Council, welcomed it as a way to protect the rights of health care professionals.
(January 19, further reporting:  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/us/health-care-office-abortion-contraception.html?emc=edit_th_180119&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998 )

***

(January 19)
When the time arrives on the prophetic timetable, nothing will be able to stop the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem —
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/us/politics/trump-israel-embassy-jerusalem.html?emc=edit_th_180119&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
U.S. Presses to Relocate Embassy to Jerusalem by 2019
The Trump administration is moving faster than expected to transfer the American Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv by 2019, senior officials said Thursday, despite insisting last month that the move would not happen until the end of President Trump’s term. … …

***
(January 20)
Kurds now under attack in their own homeland areas in Syria, not in their Turkish enclaves, but by an invasion of the Turkish army into Syrian territory.  May God save them! —

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/world/middleeast/turkey-kurds-syria-afrin.html?emc=edit_th_180120&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Turkey Begins Operation Against U.S.-Backed Kurdish Militias in Syria
***
To quote Penny from the Big Bang Theory,  “jibber jabber about jibber jabber”?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/us/politics/senate-showdown-government-shutdown-trump.html?emc=edit_th_180120&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Government Shutdown Begins as Budget Talks Falter in Senate
WASHINGTON — Much of the federal government officially shut down early Saturday morning after Senate Democrats, showing remarkable solidarity in the face of a clear political danger, blocked consideration of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government operating.
The shutdown, coming one year to the day after President Trump took office, set off a new round of partisan recriminations and posed risks for both parties. It came after a fruitless last-minute negotiating session at the White House between Mr. Trump and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. … …
***
Hal Lindsey’s whole letter this week —  worth a read for his survey of 2017.  Use links near the end to get on his weekly list.
(Cut, paste to your text program, and resize for an easier read.)

This week, I will present Part Two of "2017: The Prophetic Year in Review." I will continue my discussion of the prophetic implications of some of the events and developments we witnessed in 2017. 

Some call it fake news. Jesus called it deception. When His disciples asked about the signs of the last days, Jesus began by giving His followers this warning: "Take heed that no one deceives you." (Matthew 24:4) 

We live in an age of deception -- fake news, false advertising, viral lies, and clickbait. The mainstream media perpetrate falsehoods regularly, as do various alternative media. 

But one of the major sources of 21st century deception can be found in an unlikely place: our schools. For instance, the U.S. Department of Education urges all public schools to teach Islam. 

It's really just thinly veiled propaganda, though they would certainly not use that word. The DoE says schools should teach Islam "to create an anti-bias learning environment." 

Many regularly teach the religious doctrine that God and Allah are the same. Forget the "separation of church and state" arguments for the moment. This one teaching alone is a form of gross -- and deadly -- deception. And the deception is being inculcated in our malleable children. By order of the state! 

In 2017, truth became even more subservient to political correctness. Isaiah 5:20 says, in part, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil...." Those words perfectly describe the pervasive spirit of deception that seems to have settled upon our world. 

Another sign of the end times is an increase in the persecution of those who name the name of Jesus Christ. 

Christianity Today reported, "For the third year in a row, the modern persecution of Christians worldwide has hit another record high." Fox News said, "Nearly one in 12 Christians across the globe lives in an area where there is high-level persecution against members of the religion." 

A Yemeni man called "Sam" told CBN News, "Life for Christians in Yemen is very hard. For that matter, across the Middle East, there's not a country where Christians are not suffering for their faith. This is our reality." 

But 2017 also found the persecution of Christians arise in unexpected places. Canada enacted Bill 89, which gives the state the power to take a child away from his or her parents if they do not agree that their child is transgender. 

Jack Fonseca of Campaign Life Coalition warned, "...we've entered an era of totalitarian power by the state, such as never witnessed in Canada's history ... Bill 89 is a grave threat to Christians and all people of faith." 

Even in America, it is becoming dangerous to be a Christian. Especially one who is willing to take a stand for Judeo-Christian values. in 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a homosexual couple. His story is a reminder that following Christ may soon harm a believer's ability to hold a job or run his own business in a western nation. 

Over the last few decades, some Bible scholars have postulated that the "mark of the beast" might be a computer chip inserted under a person's skin. The chip would serve as an identifier and repository of vast amounts of information about the individual. 

From critical medical information to credit and banking information, the chip would guarantee security and convenience. It would also make possible an amazing Bible prophecy concerning the Antichrist's partner, the False Prophet. 

Revelation 13:16-17 foretells, "He causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead, and he provides that no one should be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark." 

In July of 2017, a company in Wisconsin implanted tiny computer chips into the hands of about 50 employee volunteers. These chips only allow them to open doors and buy snacks from vending machines without money. In other words, to make things more convenient for the busy employees. It sounds harmless enough, but portends more ominous possibilities in the future. 

Last year, The New York Times called certain toys "the cybersecurity nightmares of 2017." The paper was referring to the fact that more and more toys contain cameras and microphones that connect to the internet -- and constantly gather data. 

Today, toys spy on us. Cell phones spy on us. Televisions, cars, and even refrigerators spy on us. 

In 2017, TSA began using facial scans at some airports. In October, the liberal Slate magazine reported on legislation pending before Congress. It said, "...an alarming section of the bill would give... a green light to begin using biometrics to identify people in airports nationwide... right now there's only one technology fit for a biometric surveillance system: automated, real-time face scans." 

On another front, digital currencies -- cryptocurrencies -- came into their own in 2017. Bitcoin's value rose to unbelievable levels. But from a prophetic point-of-view, I'm more interested in government-issued digital currency. 

These cryptocurrencies foreshadow a future world currency that can be completely controlled by the Antichrist. 

Another development that hints at a "mark of the beast" economic system is happening in China. They are actively building the largest DNA database in the world. For the "mark of the beast" to work, it will need to be made secure using DNA and other biometric identifiers. The Chinese government has also found a way to control the internet within their borders. In 2017, they achieved the ability to erase data and images mid-transmission! In the future, these techniques could go global. That would be a tremendous aid to the Antichrist by allowing his government to absolutely control all communications between people. 

2017 also saw a marked rise in another hallmark of the last days. 2 Timothy 3 says, "In the last days... men will be... brutal." 

As I noted last week, radical Islamic terrorists continued to brutalize the world with hundreds of terror attacks. But in October, here in America, Stephen Paddock killed 58 and wounded 546 when he shot up a Las Vegas music festival. The next month, Devin Patrick Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and killed 26 and wounded 20. 

In 2017, many people considered it entertaining to present fantasies of President Trump's assassination. Even his beheading. It was a year in which human beings became increasingly -- and overtly -- brutal. 

2017 saw dramatic earthquakes, catastrophic hurricanes, a thousand-year flood, and one of the most destructive fire seasons in history. Jesus compared end times events to a woman going through labor pains. Paul wrote, "The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." (Romans 8:22) 

That means the whole planet is in travail. In 2017, we saw it. 

Maybe the greatest earthquake of 2017 was the earthquake in American politics. In last year's Prophetic Year in Review I said, "Compared to what Donald Trump is facing, Richard Nixon had it easy!" Boy, I sure got that one right! 

Why are people so upset with President Trump? Sure, he rubs some people the wrong way. He says unexpected and, sometimes, inappropriate things. He speaks -- or tweets -- when maybe he should stay silent. 

But when you look beyond his bluster and just look at his actions and record, he's mostly a moderate, right-of-center politician. Not at all out of the mainstream. 

I think the real reason so many people are obsessed with destroying President Trump can be found in his resistance to the New World Order. 

In 2017, he refused to recertify the Iran nuclear deal. He formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. He's renegotiating NAFTA. He put an end to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He demanded that NATO members pay their own way. He called the United Nations to account and cut some of its funding. He got tough with the Palestinian Authority. He put the Muslim nations on notice that it's their responsibility to confront and curb Islamic terrorism. And more. 

In other words, he stood up to and fought the globalist elites who were on the brink of cementing their supra-national control of the entire world. And, believe it or not, by doing that and by seeking to return autonomy and sovereignty to the United States -- and bring Judeo-Christian values back to the public square -- President Trump may have complicated the build-up to the Antichrist's one-world government. 

And doing that guarantees him some terribly powerful enemies. Including Satan himself. 

That's why, as we enter 2018, it is so critical that all believers follow Paul's admonition: "I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) 

I would go a step further. I urge you to pray earnestly and daily specifically for our President and Vice President. Pray that God will encourage them, give them wisdom and determination, and protect them as they stand in the gap for the America we know and love. 

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, various local stations,www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
***
(January 21)
Pray for the Kurds who have nowhere to go, brave soldiers though they be, who are outgunned by the national army, air force, and overall insurgent forces of Turkey attacking them.

https://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-kilis/turkish-forces-push-into-syria-kurdish-militia-says-attacks-repulsed-idINKBN1FA049
Turkish forces push into Syria, Kurdish militia says attacks repulsed

***

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; 
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, 
as travail upon a woman with child; 
and they shall not escape.

I Thessalonians 5:3

 

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If your browser does not support the clickable link with each story, just cut and paste it to your browser's address line.   For more, and archives on the subjects, and for other biblical teachings, visit ntfellowship.net. 

January 14

Saints,

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”  Paul to the Corinthians (2C4:17)
“Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds…”  Paul to the Hebrews (12:2, 3)

***
Madness, agony, foolishness, fears of the world this week…but we have “the peace that passes understanding,” and watch with Hope.  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (Jn 14:3) —

(January 8)
Now, it’s a mere housecat going mad, jumping into a car, attacking a woman, the situation cascading into causing her grave injuries —

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/woman-run-over-while-trying-to-escape-cat-attack-troopers-say
Woman run over with her own car while trying to escape cat attack, troopers say
Car left in reverse, rolled over woman
WEST COCOA, Fla. - A woman said a cat jumped into her car and attacked her and as she was trying to escape the feline's fury, she was run over by her own vehicle as it rolled in reverse, according to officials from the Florida Highway Patrol.
The woman said she had left her car parked in grass in front of a house on Magnolia Avenue in West Cocoa on Friday evening. She was preparing to drive off when the cat pounced into the car and attacked her, troopers said.
In an attempt to escape the cat's claws, the woman got out of the vehicle, forgetting that it was in reverse, according to FHP.
"It's very unusual to have an animal leap into a car and bite somebody like this and then get run over by your own car. The car rolled into the street and did strike a parked vehicle as well," FHP Lt. Channing Taylor said.
Troopers said the car rolled over the woman, leaving her with critical injuries. … …
***
Sometimes, there’s just something about cash that retains the last vestiges and privileges of the individual, anonymity and privacy —
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/india-clings-to-cash-even-as-tech-firms-push-digital-money/articleshow/62410222.cms
India clings to cash, even as tech firms push digital money 

ALIGARH: Signs and banners for Paytm, India's biggest digital payments service, festoon Pooran Singh's cellphone shop, where people drop in all day to add data or talk time to their prepaid phones. 

Yet few of these people actually use Paytm at the store, which straddles two dusty streets in this sleepy north Indian city in which tractors jostle with cows for space on the narrow roads. 

"People recharge in cash," Singh said, after a young man handed him 20 rupees (about 32 cents) to top up his mother's phone. 

The scene in Singh's shop underscores a persistent reality of India's economy: People prefer cash for most routine transactions, despite intensive efforts by the government and global technology companies to lure them onto digital platforms. … …

***
(January 9)
More animal tales —
“Flying Foxes” falling from sky in intense Australian heat wave—
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5292125/thousands-of-flying-foxes-fall-from-sky-after-being-boiled-alive-in-sweltering-australia-heatwave/
Wild Turkeys wax belligerent, drive off postal employees in Ohio—
http://www.cleveland.com/rocky-river/index.ssf/2018/01/aggressive_wild_turkeys_in_roc.html

***
Just a few headline words report this, but how VAST are the implications?  …a planet coming apart?  …only a prelude to 2018 and beyond?
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2017-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historic-year
2017 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: a historic year in context

…During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters.  In total, the U.S. was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire. … …

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/climate/2017-weather-disasters.html?emc=edit_th_20180109&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998

These Billion-Dollar Natural Disasters Set a U.S. Record in 2017
Extreme weather events caused a total of $306 billion in damage in the United States last year, making 2017 the most expensive year on record for natural disasters in the country, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. … …

***
(January 10)
Wow!  Big One slides by under the Caribbean Sea—“One of the largest in recorded history” for the region, but little infrastructure damage and NO VICTIMS!  THANK GOD! (…and only a warning?)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5253011/Massive-7-6-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-Caribbean.html

Massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Caribbean: Islands escape major damage after one of the most powerful tremors ever to hit the region
	•	7.6 magnitude earthquake happened last night at 9.51pm at a depth of 6.2 miles
	•	The tremor was one of the largest to hit the Caribbean region in recorded history
	•	Struck in the Caribbean Sea 25 miles from Honduras island of Great Swan Island
	•	A tsunami advisory was put in place for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands
	•	There were fears it could impact the coasts of Central American nations, including Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands 
	•	But the warnings were later canceled and in the end no tsunami materialized

***

Overnight— Floods in desert Las Vegas, but far worse, California’s now fire-stripped hills collapse as mudslides follow big rainstorms.  Many evacuate.  Some still unaccounted for—

(Apparently, these California hills are comprised of nothing but earth and big boulders?  The streets are strewn with 3-6’ boulders and bigger!  “Anyone knows,” would intone many a geological video documentary, that these kinds of rock movements would take “millions of years,” or at least an ice age, to move into these positions that, in fact, they obtained overnight!)

https://www.ktnv.com/news/multiple-water-rescues-reported-around-las-vegas-valley?autoplay=true
Multiple water rescues reported around Las Vegas valley

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-rainfall-mudflow-20180109-story.html
At least 13 dead as heavy rains trigger flooding, mudflows and freeway closures across Southern California

At least 13 people were killed Tuesday when a rainstorm sent mud and debris coursing through Montecito neighborhoods and left rescue crews to scramble through clogged roadways and downed trees to search for victims.
The deluge that washed over Santa Barbara County early Tuesday was devastating for a community that was ravaged by the Thomas fire only a few weeks earlier. In just a matter of minutes, pounding rain overwhelmed the south-facing slopes above Montecito and flooded a creek that leads to the ocean, sending mud and massive boulders rolling into residential neighborhoods, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason.
At least 25 other people were injured, authorities said at an afternoon press conference. Crews rescued 50 people by air and dozens more from the ground.
“It’s going to be worse than anyone imagined for our area,” Eliason said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Following our fire, this is the worst-case scenario.” … …

Boulders abound!  http://www.pioneernews.in/at-least-17-dead-after-california-mudslides

***
Huge Indian Biometric System — Poster Child For The Beast?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/snowden-joins-outcry-against-world-s-biggest-biometric-database
Snowden Joins Outcry Against World's Biggest Biometric Database
Former U.S. intelligence-contractor-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden joined critics of India’s digital ID program as the nation’s top court is due to decide on its legality.

Snowden on Tuesday tweeted in support of an Indian journalist who faces police charges after she reported that personal details of over a billion citizens enrolled in the program could be illegally accessed for just $8 paid through a digital wallet. Named Aadhaar, the program is backed by the world’s biggest biometric database, which its operator Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, says wasn’t breached. … …

***

Who knows?  “Many which are last shall be first.”  We don’t yet know how God will fill his kingdom.  Any good, self-righteous pharisee (speaking of my own “abilities” here when I “drop my cross” and wax religious and judgmental) can find or imagine all kinds of reasons to loathe and to damn these two in our opinions, but God may have salvation in mind instead.  Lord, thank you for your mercy to me, also a sinner unless I stay walking in your grace.  May this couple find grace in your eyes too, through Jesus our Lord.

https://pagesix.com/2018/01/10/huma-abedin-and-anthony-weiner-call-off-divorce/

Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner withdraw their divorce

***

(January 11)
An official back door for ISIS in Canada?

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1922
Canada: Trudeau's Support For Islamists A Warning To America
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has a nine-year long record of supporting the Islamist cause while refusing to engage with reformist Muslims. With respect to ISIS fighters returning to Canada, Trudeau has argued that they will be a "powerful voice for deradicalization" and that those who oppose their return are "Islamophobic." 

Furthermore, the Government of Canada is not adding the names of returning ISIS fighters to the UN committee responsible for the listing of international jihadists.

Many Canadians are starting to believe that Prime Minister Trudeau's position on reintegrating and deradicalizing ISIS fighters is unreasonable, if not delusional. Canada's "Centre for Community Engagement and Deradicalization" has no leader and no deradicalization centre. 

Nor does it appear to have plans for a program which could operate inside or outside of government. It is also not clear that the law of Canada could force a returning ISIS fighter to attend such a program, even if it did exist. In France, a similar government sponsored program was a failure.

Canada also has an unclear position on the arrest of returning ISIS fighters, with few facing any consequences to date. The number of ISIS fighters in Canada is unclear; estimates back in 2015 suggested that about 60 had returned. The Government of Canada has tried to claim that his number has not changed since 2015, despite the near total collapse of ISIS over the last several months.

Prime Minister Trudeau's earlier comments on politicians needing a position of "responsible neutrality" on the issues of wife beating and female genital mutilation render his current positions on Islamist groups such as ISIS even more troublesome. 

Perhaps most disturbing were Trudeau's comments to a gathering of Islamist front groups: he told them that he shared their beliefs, their set of values and their shared vision. Adding to this concern is his 2014 interview, as a Member of Parliament, to the Montreal-based newspaper Sada al-Mashrek. 

This paper is known to be Khomeneist in nature and supports Iran (as well as Hezbollah). In this interview, Trudeau told the paper that he would have a special immigration program that was more open to "Muslims and Arabs." … ….

***

“Lights out!” Is this a “handwriting on the wall” for The Great Technocracy?  ...“a house of cards” when planetary emergencies arise?

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/lights-ces-giant-trade-show-plunges-darkness-knocks-samsung-lg-booths/
Lights out at CES: Giant trade show plunges into darkness, knocks out Samsung, LG, and other booths

***
(January 13)
Note the Source, but if there is any truth in this story, here is another horrendous sign of mass insanity.  We are near to the same bloodlust insanity of the Romans in their full flower of decadence in watching the gladiators kill one another.  Death to Christians was an end result.  (CAUTION: graphic visuals depict utter disrespect for human self, body and person, meant to be temples for the Lord.)  ISIS at least has a philosophy; this is just barbaric foolishness called “sport.”  Lord, deliver us from the things coming upon the earth!  “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” Luke 21:36.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5323511/bloody-hardcore-wrestling-beat-glass-barbed-wire-bats-death-matches/
BLOODY VIOLENT Inside the bloody world of hardcore wrestling where fighters brawl with shards of glass, barbed wire bats and fan-made weapons in ultra-violent ‘death matches’

***

O Lord God, deliver your saints, and all who will call on you, from this often annual but now especially deadly pestilence —

https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/12/flu-season-cdc/
Flu season is shaping up as one of the worst in years, officials say
The entire continental United States is experiencing widespread flu right now, the first time in the 13 years of the current tracking system that that has happened, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials said that this flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in recent years.
The rate of flu hospitalizations — the number of people hospitalized with flu per 100,000 — nearly doubled last week compared with the previous week. Last week it was 22.7 per 100,000 people; the week before that rate was 13.7. … …

***
Thank you, Lord, for the Church in China; may you keep it pure and purify it and make it shine like the sun in the midst of these persecutions.  
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”  2 Tim. 3:12.
Save many among the Chinese, and take down the godless adversaries.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-christianity-religion-crackdown-megachurch-chinaaid-golden-lampstand-church-linfen-communist-a8156031.html
Chinese authorities blow up Christian megachurch with dynamite
Chinese authorities have demolished a well-known Christian megachurch, inflaming long-standing tensions between religious groups and the Communist Party.
Witnesses and overseas activists said the paramilitary People's Armed Police used dynamite and excavators to destroy the Golden Lampstand Church, which has a congregation of more than 50,000, in the city of Linfen in Shaanxi province. … …

***

An opinion —
Cool and Fool, just one letter apart.  The latest teen insanity — eating poisonous laundry detergent pods before audiences on social media vid posts — This to try to impress their peers with coolness.  Sickness, insanity, blindness, death may follow.  It would appear that this follows the earlier rash of little children ingesting these pods, mistaking them for candy.  If the teens are this stupid and entranced by some kind of “Pied Piper of Hamlin” spirit, then THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SHOULD ASK THAT THESE “CONVENIENCE” PODS BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET.  It is very little harder to pour and measure detergent in the bottle’s cap as has been done for years and is still widely available in packaging and use.  If you have little one, moms, or your teens are idiots, DO NOT BUY ANY MORE OF THESE DETERGENT PODS!!!  If young fools persist in swallowing poison for “cool and kicks,” maybe manufacturers should include an emetic (quick vomit-inducing) substance in the detergent product.  The convenience of these little pods is not worth the destruction of stupid teens nor the accidental poisoning of little children.  Elderly persons with dementia have also died from ingesting the pods.

https://nypost.com/2018/01/13/teens-are-chewing-laundry-detergent-pods-in-dangerous-new-trend/
Teens are chewing laundry detergent pods in dangerous new trend

***
(January 14)
A Panic of the Times — The New Nuclear Cold War in the Pacific 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/us/hawaii-missile.html

Hawaii Panics After Alert About Incoming Missile Is Sent in Error
An early-morning emergency alert mistakenly warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack was dispatched to cellphones across Hawaii on Saturday, setting off widespread panic in a state that was already on edge because of escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. … …

***

Updates on California town nearly wiped off the map.  Death toll to 19; some still missing; rain in forecast—

https://apnews.com/fd72b0c2feeb4097889d57d6962be718/Frustrations,-tragedy-mount-for-California-mudslide-town
California mudslides death toll rises to 19
***

I was glad when they said unto me, 
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Psalm 122:1

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January 7

Saints,

Have you noticed the pace of the news cycles?  It seems now that two day old news is highly developed and past its prime value, debated, analyzed and all but put to bed within 48-72 hours.  If this blog were for news only, once a week would not be at all viable.  Already, the Iranian riots seem like past history, and the California and Mt. St. Helens quakes seem like an old memory (unless they are foreshocks and much bigger is about to occur).  We seem to be living in that time when “knowledge shall increase” as Daniel said in brilliant understatement, and life has become some kind of racing time machine.  Only secure attachment to that great Rock of Christ can sustain us in this almost unbelievable time.  I think God must partly protect those that are his by the input limit of an individual person.  If we could see more than we can input and process, we would probably not manage to continue living.  Yet, at this point, mass psychoses (the opioid crisis, for example) still erupt everywhere.  It is for such reasons that modern government seeks to hide many truths from a general populace.  Thank God for Paul’s note to us there in Thessalonians that nothing can surprise or outpace God, that He is still in control, and “He (the Holy Spirit in the church) that restrains (the final output of the spirit of Antichrist) will restrain until He be taken out of the way…”.  Hell and Antichrist cannot fully break loose until the Church is caught up — the Holy Spirit in believers withdraws with them to Heaven (2 Thess. 2:6-7 &ff.)

So today’s events are yet “the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8), and there is much more to come.  The Lord instructed us to labor for him, for said he, “…the night cometh when no man can work…” (Jn. 9:4) 

***

The opening week of the new year.  Will 2017 manage to look tame in comparison?

(January 1)
Matt Drudge says it, “California Goes To Pot!”  A potential market of nearly 40 millions with paranoid munchies?  Is this just one big Trojan Horse to make “wasted” the citizens of California?  “Wasted” has long been a cute cynicism among potheads.  Too bad it means just what it says.  What’s softening up the populace?  Socialists?  Aliens? The Devil himself?  We shall see.  There is no “peace-out bliss” in the holes of hell.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/New-era-to-open-in-California-with-first-sales-of-12464823.php
New era opens in California with first sales of recreational marijuana
(…but see new entry for January 5 too…)
***
(January 2)
“Another one just like the other one!”  Recently, Atlanta power crash caused major flight interruptions even worldwide.  Now, Miami glitches.  How fragile our technocracy may be!

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2018/01/01/long-lines-miami-international-airport-customs/
Long Lines At Miami International Airport Due To U.S. Customs Computer Issue

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It’s a rough night for international travelers at Miami International Airport.
Approximately 2,000 passengers are in line at customs at MIA due to an apparent computer outage impacting systems used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at passport control.

The outage is affecting other airports across the county, according to an official familiar with the situation.
Travelers in Miami say it was a mass of people and a mess.
Jennifer Martin stood in line for hours.  She was frustrated.
“The kiosk machines shut down,” Martin said. “So we couldn’t get our passport pictures down, so they cattled us to this line, then they opened up the line after we been standing in it for an hour and let the people who just got off a flight in front of us in customs.”
Other passengers experienced similar problems.
“The machines for customs and border patrol aren’t working, so all the things are printing out with X’s on them and everyone’s freaking out, so the lines about an hour to get thru,” said Brittany Jason. … …

***
 “The time has come to express our biblical right to the land.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/world/middleeast/israeli-jerusalem-west-bank.html?emc=edit_th_20180102&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Emboldened Israeli Right Presses Moves to Doom 2-State Solution
JERUSALEM — An emboldened Israeli right wing is moving quickly in the new year to make it far more difficult to create a Palestinian state, signaling its intention to doom hopes for a two-state solution to the conflict.
The actions have come on multiple fronts, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party for the first time has urged the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the nation’s top legal officers pressed to extend Israeli law into occupied territory.
In addition, the Israeli Parliament, after a late-night debate, voted early Tuesday to enact stiff new obstacles to any potential land-for-peace deal involving Jerusalem, while abandoning at the last minute a measure that would have eased the way to rid the city of several overwhelmingly Palestinian neighborhoods.
Coming on the heels of President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in defiance of decades-old United States policy and international consensus, the moves showed that the Israeli right senses a new opening to pursue its goal of a single state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. … …

***

How are internal events stirring the pot in prophetic Persia?  Surprising turns.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/world/middleeast/iran-protests.html?emc=edit_th_20180102&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Deadly Iran Protests Prompt Warning of Harsher Response
TEHRAN — Ignoring pleas for calm from President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian protesters took to the streets in several cities for the fifth day on Monday as pent-up economic and political frustrations boiled over in the broadest display of discontent in years.
The Iranian government responded with conciliatory words from Mr. Rouhani, but also a widening security clampdown — and a pledge late Monday to crack down even harder.
The government will not allow an “insecure situation to continue in Tehran,” Brig. Gen Esmaeil Kowsari, deputy chief of the main Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency. “If this situation continues, the officials will definitely make some decisions and at that point this business will be finished.” … …

***
Last week, citing the new need for urban hunters for coyotes, I warned concerning the coming judgments of Rev. 6:8…deaths by animal attacks.  Since then, a woman has been mauled to death by two pitbulls she was caregiving.  Now, a woman in Modesto, California suffers a similar fate by an attack of wild dogs.  Know your neighborhoods; watch your kids; never fail in watchful prayer; be alert.  Most dogs still intuitively understand the power of a big stick in hand, though packs of them may not; repellant sprays are also available, like bear sprays/pepper sprays.  Some sound and/or light devices on sale by preppers and security companies may also defend.  Watching with prayer is still the best and first line of defense.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5249434/stray-dog-woman-mauled-death-california/
A WOMAN is believed to have been mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in a California city.
Deborah Onsurez, 56, was attacked in the early hours of Thursday morning in central Modesto — on the same road as an animal shelter.
She was found with severe injuries on a driveway and pronounced dead at the scene.
Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies said that a number of vicious stray dogs are believed to have attacked her.
Local man Armando told CBS there are "stray dogs everywhere", adding: "that’s Stanislaus County for you, that’s all that’s around here."
Officers and Animal Control teams have been carrying out searches for the pack but have yet to turn up any results, according to local media. … …

***
(January 4)
Are hatreds on the Far Right exposing the “shadow government” of international, giant Social Media “governments”/entities who make rulings and exercise punishments against free speech without the help of federal governments and long before they can judicially rule and intervene?  
Continuing reverberations from “the rape of Cologne.” (Germany also does not have exactly the same free speech, First Amendment rights as the US does.)

http://www.dw.com/en/afd-politician-censored-under-new-german-hate-speech-law-for-anti-muslim-tweet/a-41992679
AfD politician ‘censored’ under new German hate speech law for anti-Muslim tweet
Beatrix von Storch, a leading figure in the Alternative for Germany party, is one of the first hit by new hate speech laws on social media. Critics say the legislation opens the way for censorship by internet companies.
A top lawmaker from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was blocked from Twitter and Facebook on Monday after slamming the Cologne police for sending a New Year's tweet in Arabic.
The incident caused the AfD to lash out further and criticize censorship as a controversial new German social media law known as NetzDG went into effect January 1 in a bid to clamp down on online hate speech. … …

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My, My!  It’s a “bumpy” planet.  With a vast caldera under Yellowstone and recent reports of another big one under, of all places northern New England, now Mt. St. Helens, a known killer from the giant 1980 eruption, starts belching and shaking again.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/01/03/mount-st-helens-is-rumbling-again-with-40-earthquakes-since-new-years-day/#2d9d8c93370b
Mount St. Helens Is Rumbling Again With 40 Earthquakes Since New Years Day
Since New Years Day Mount St. Helens has experienced 40 earthquakes within its vicinity as tremors continue every few hours. The most powerful earthquake was a magnitude 3.9 that occurred around midnight west coast time about 5 miles from Mount St. Helens and 23 miles from the town of Morton.
The 3.9 magnitude earthquake was felt in Portland but there were no reported injuries or damage. Since that earthquake there have been 16 more earthquakes, averaging about every half hour with magnitudes from 0.6 to 2.6.
It is common to experience swarms of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens. While it is certainly not a sign of an impending eruption, the earthquakes are a result of an active volcanic system.
Mount St. Helens is most commonly known for its major eruption in 1980, the deadliest and most economically damaging volcanic event in the history of the United States. The stratovolcano is situated just 96 miles from Seattle and 50 miles from Portland, making an eruption especially dangerous. … …

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Breaking News on the 4th:  San Francisco 4.4 quake —  Question now:  Aftershocks? or was this a Foreshock?

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/01/04/earthquake-berkeley-california-san-francisco-bay-area/
4.4 Earthquake Jolts ‘Hot Spot’ On Hayward Fault
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A 4.4 magnitude earthquake centered along a seismically active 5-mile stretch of Hayward fault near the UC-Berkeley campus and the historic Claremont Hotel jolted the Bay Area awake early Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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(January 5)
Another new, cultural “civil war”  —  Feds vs. Potheads?  States may not be allowed rights to declare pot legal.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-to-jeff-sessions-get-your-hands-off-our-weed

Republicans to Jeff Sessions: Get Your Hands Off Our Weed
The attorney general announced a new marijuana directive on Thursday. And he forgot to tell anyone in advance.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pulled off something that would have been unthinkable just a few years back: he managed to rally Republican lawmakers behind weed.
Sessions announced on Thursday that he would be rescinding a policy from the Obama administration that had discouraged prosecutors in states where marijuana was legalized from bringing charges for marijuana-related crimes, unless they involved distribution to minors, revenue sale benefiting gangs or cartels and a few other federal priorities. In its place, federal prosecutors would be given discretion (not guidance) to pursue marijuana-related prosecutions.
The announcement was a reversal of a memo authored by former Deputy Attorney General James Cole in 2013, who wrote the Obama-era guidelines after Colorado and Washington voted to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use. And it managed to tick off a number of lawmakers from those states as well as the eight others—in addition to Washington D.C.—who have voted to legalize recreational marijuana use since. … …

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(See January 4 story on AfD above.)  New censorship law backfiring in Germany?
http://news.trust.org/item/20180104113147-as99y
Top-selling German newspaper says new online hate speech law must be scrapped
BERLIN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A new law meant to curtail hate speech on social media in Germany is stifling free speech and making martyrs out of anti-immigrant politicians whose posts are deleted, the top-selling Bild newspaper said on Thursday.
The law which took effect on Jan. 1 can impose fines of up to 50 million euros ($60 million) on sites that fail to remove hate speech promptly. Twitter has deleted anti-Muslim and anti-migrant posts by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and blocked a satirical account that parodied Islamophobia.
"Please spare us the thought police!" read a headline in Wednesday's Bild above an article that called the law a "sin" against freedom of opinion enshrined in Germany's constitution. … …

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(January 6)
A secular, woman, NYTimes editorialist speaks on the de-humanizing effects of #MeToo excesses —  (Political Correctness as social fear, intimidation, and criminalization similar to the dystopian themes of Orwell’s 1984)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/opinion/golden-globes-metoo.html
Publicly, We Say #MeToo. Privately, We Have Misgivings.
(excerpts):  …The fact that such unwelcome advances persist, and often in the office, is, yes, evidence of sexism and the abusive power of the patriarchy. But I don’t believe that scattershot, life-destroying denunciations are the way to upend it. In our current climate, to be accused is to be convicted. Due process is nowhere to be found. … …
…We are witnessing the re-moralization of sex, not via the Judeo-Christian ethos but via a legalistic, corporate consensus. … …
…These are scary times, for women as well as men. There is an inquisitorial whiff in the air, and my particular fear is that in true American fashion, all subtlety and reflection is being lost. Next we’ll be torching people for the content of their fantasies.

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Technology Itself that seems to be rising out of The Abyss?  Not just Artificial Intelligence but Artificial Life…
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/01/pentagon-seeks-laser-powered-bat-drones/144964/
Pentagon Seeks Laser-Powered Bat Drones. Really.
Tired: multi-rotor copters and fixed-wing drones. Wired: flying robots that move like living animals, are crafted of next-generation materials, and draw their power not from batteries but energy beamed from nearby aircraft.
On Wednesday, the Defense Enterprise Science Initiative, or DESI, announced a competition for basic science grants to build “new paradigms for autonomous flight, with a focus on highly-maneuverable platforms and algorithms for flight control and decision making.” An accompanying Broad Agency Announcement gets more specific: basically, they’re looking for bat-like drones that can be powered with directed-energy beams.
“The biological study of agile organisms such as bats and flying insects has yielded new insights into complex flight kinematics of systems with a large number of degrees of freedom, and the use of multi-functional flight surface materials,” the announcement reads. The Air Force believes that more and more naturalistic design — coupled with more powerful and smaller sensors to form a better picture of the outside world — should yield “significant improvements in maneuverability, survivability and stealth over traditional quadcopter or fixed wing designs.” … …

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(January 7)
Germany wallows?
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. (Isaiah 40:15)
 Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting (Daniel 5:27)
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)
…and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity (Luke 21:25)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/world/europe/angela-merkel-germany-government.html
Back at It Again: German Leaders Try to Form a Government
BERLIN — Six days of meetings, three parties and a news blackout: If all goes well in meetings that start this weekend, that’s the combination that could give Germany a new government by March.  That’s the best-case situation … …

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Right here in Shelburne, Vermont, elderly meals volunteer macheteed by a young man name Abukar Ibrahim—
(Is it also news that the New York Times does not report on this story this morning?)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-delivering-meals-homeless-attacked-machete-160019346.html
Woman delivering meals to the homeless attacked with machete
SHELBURNE, Vt. (AP) -- Police say a man in Vermont has used a machete to attack a woman in her 70s as she delivered meals to a motel being used as emergency housing for the homeless.
WCAX-TV reports 32-year-old Burlington resident Abukar Ibrahim is accused of attacking the 73-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer who was dropping off meals at Harbor Place, which serves as a temporary emergency housing facility. The attack happened Friday in Shelburne. … …

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Last blog, I asked if Guatemala’s decision to put its Israel embassy in Jerusalem would start a domino effect.  Is Egypt’s domino now wobbling too?
Later in this piece, it notes the Saudis may be moving in the same direction.  Ezekiel says there will be divisions between Arab and Persian Islamics (38:13) in the great opening war against Israel, the result, at the end, “every man’s sword shall be against his brother” (v. 21).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/world/middleeast/egypt-jerusalem-talk-shows.html?emc=edit_th_20180107&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
Tapes Reveal Egyptian Leaders’ Tacit Acceptance of Jerusalem Move
As President Trump moved last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, an Egyptian intelligence officer quietly placed phone calls to the hosts of several influential talk shows in Egypt.
“Like all our Arab brothers,” Egypt would denounce the decision in public, the officer, Capt. Ashraf al-Kholi, told the hosts.
But strife with Israel was not in Egypt’s national interest, Captain Kholi said. He told the hosts that instead of condemning the decision, they should persuade their viewers to accept it. Palestinians, he suggested, should content themselves with the dreary West Bank town that currently houses the Palestinian Authority, Ramallah.
“How is Jerusalem different from Ramallah, really?” Captain Kholi asked repeatedly in four audio recordings of his telephone calls obtained by The New York Times. … …

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The secession of California?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/us/california-sanctuary-marijuana.html?emc=edit_th_20180107&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=69381998
In Clash Between California and Trump, It’s One America Versus Another
LOS ANGELES — When drivers entered California recently from the borders with Arizona and Nevada, they were greeted with signs welcoming them to an “official sanctuary state” that is home to “felons” and “illegals.” It was a prank, but the message was clear: By entering California, they might as well have been entering foreign territory.
And in many ways it feels like that these days, as the growing divide between California and the Trump administration erupted this past week over a dizzying range of flash points, from immigration to taxes to recreational marijuana use.
What had been a rhetorical battle between a liberal state and a conservative administration is now a full-fledged fight. … …

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“As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world.”
John 9:5