Is Rabbi’s 2017 Prediction of Rise of Idolatry Coming True? – Breaking Israel News | Latest News. Biblical Perspective.

2017: The Year of IdolatryBy Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz March 14, 2018 , 3:00 pm

Go cry to the gods you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress!” Judges 10:14 (The Israel Bible™)

Idolatry (Photo via Shutterstock)

One year ago, Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi made a startling prediction that witchcraft and black magic would make a comeback in the world. A look back at the headlines of 2017 reveals a disturbing trend: the rabbi was undoubtedly correct.

In a sermon in February 2017, Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, a mystic with a strong following in Israel, warned that dark powers are re-emerging in the world, seeking to usurp God’s rule. He compared the spiritual condition in the world to Egypt just before the Exodus of the Jews.

Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi (Photo: Facebook Page of Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi)

“After every plague, Pharaoh, his warlocks, and all of the idol worshippers consulted with their false gods and asked them to remove the plague. This did not help them at all until they turned and cried out to Moses and he stopped the plague in one moment. Then they understood that there was one power above which is God, and it is Him that rules the world and not the power of impurity: serving false gods, idol worship, and fortune telling.”

Remarkably, his predictions seem to be coming true. Witchcraft and idolatry are appearing with increasing frequency, sometimes in insidious manners that present this ancient evil under a multitude of guises that make it appear benign, innocent, or even a positive cultural element.

Below are examples of idolatry appearing in the world in the past year.

Witches Cursing President Trump

(Shutterstock)

Just a few weeks after the rabbi’s prediction, a call went out on social media to use black magic to curse newly inaugurated President Trump. A small group gathered at midnight in front of several of the more prominent Trump-owned buildings around the country, but the organizers reported that tens of thousands participated from their homes, using arcane objects and burning candles while reciting a prearranged incantation to cast a “binding spell”. The call to action requested that the ritual be repeated every crescent moon until President Trump leaves office.

Burning Man Festival

Temple of Galaxia, Burning Man (Photo via architect’s Facebook page)

What began over 30 years ago as a small campfire gathering of California artists evolved into a massive annual festival bringing almost 70,000 people to the middle of the desert in Nevada. The upcoming festival in August will feature a structure described as a Temple of the Greek goddess Gaia, who also appears prominently in paganism.

Billed as a cultural gathering, the festival attracts artists and celebrities. Touted as a secular event, many of Burning Man’s major elements are rooted in idolatry. Regular Burning Man installments are a Temple to the Hindu goddess Shiva and a bus decorated in the form of a seven-headed dragon which, in the New Testament, represents Satan. The massive camp is set up to form a massive pentagram in the desert.

Named for a massive wood effigy burned at the end of the festival, the burning man is actually a Celtic custom based on the original pagan human sacrifices. This pagan reference came true last year when a man died after running into the flames.

Catharsis on the Mall Brings Paganism to Washington DC

A paper-mache sculpture of “Lord Shiva Natarja”, a Hindu god, featured during the Catharsis on the Mall festival. (Facebook)

A Burning Man-inspired event brought paganism to the heart of democracy: the Washington Mall. The three-day event was held in November. It featured all of the pagan trappings of its desert counterpart but the organizers also proposed a 45-foot tall, 16,000 pound, steel sculpture of a naked woman titled “R-evolution” that would stand in front of the Washington Monument, deliberately facing the White House. A permit was issued for the sculpture but, blessedly, later revoked.

The Re-Appearing Arch of Palmyra Connecting New World Order With Ba’al

A model of the arch from the Temple of Ba’al was erected in Dubai for the World Government Summit. (Screenshot)

After the Islamic State (ISIS) destroyed the famous archaeological site in Palmyra Syria, the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), a Harvard-based organization for the preservation of archaeological structures, used 3-D printing technology to recreate the 15 meter tall stone arch that had stood at the site for over 1,800 years. The arch was built as a Roman Victory Arch in front of the temple of Ba’al, a pagan god mentioned frequently in the Bible.

The replica arch first appeared in April 2016 in London’s Trafalgar Square for UNESCO’s World Heritage week, which coincided with Beltane, the major festival for pagans who worship Ba’al. It reappeared in New York City in September of that year.

The arch was erected once again to inaugurate the World Government Summit in Dubai in February 2017. The summit brings together leaders in business, technology, and politics from around the world.

The arch was then erected in Italy in May for the G7 Summit, a meeting of the leaders of the seven largest economies in the world representing more than 64 percent of the net global wealth.

UNESCO: Spreading Paganism to the World

UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. (Novikov Aleksey / Shutterstock.com)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was formed to promote peace and security through science and education. Nowhere in its charter does it say the organization should deal in idolatry but last year, pagan gods featured prominently in two of its exhibitions.

A statue of the Roman goddess Athena on display in Nashville, Tennessee. (Ron Cogswell/Flickr)

In November 2017, The United Arab Emirates, now a sponsor of the Palmyra Arch reproduction, inaugurated the Digital Archaeology Exhibition, “The Spirit in the Stone”, at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York City. The IDA, creators of the arch, used the same 3-D printing process to reproduce a statue of the Roman goddess Athena, which they described as symbolizing the UNESCO values of “reason, refuge and the rule of law”. Athena was, in fact, the Roman goddess of war, as shown by the statue holding a spear.

Lion of al-Lat (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

In January, UNESCO-funded reconstruction of the Lion of al-Lāt, an ancient statue from the Palmyra site partially destroyed by ISIS, was completed with the help of the Institute of Digital Archaeology. The ancient statue, almost 11 feet tall and weighing 15 tons, also stood in the Palmyra Temple and now stands in the National Museum of Damascus.

Biblical scholars associate Al-Lat with the goddess of jealousy and fury despised by the Prophet Ezekiel.

And He said to me, “O mortal, turn your eyes northward.” I turned my eyes northward, and there, north of the gate of the mizbayach, was that infuriating image on the approach. Ezekiel 8:5

Satanic Fashion Show

In September, a Muslim fashion designer decorated a 1,000-year-old London church in a Satanic motif for her show featuring transvestite models dressed as the devil. The Turkish designer, Dilara Findikoglu, is an up-and-coming star in the fashion world with many celebrities wearing her creations.

New AI Religion

(Shutterstock)

A new form of idolatry was added this year, supplementing the myriad forms of sinful worship described in the Bible. Anthony Levandowski, a high-tech millionaire, filed “Way of the Future” with the Internal Revenue Service as an official religion. The new religion is dedicated to “develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society.”

Levandowski’s new religion should not be confused with Jediism, a religion based on the fictitious Jedi beliefs as portrayed in the Star Wars movie series. Jediism was established in 2001 and has hundreds of thousands of adherents worldwide.

Iceland’s Dedicates First Pagan Temple to Norse Gods in 1,000 Years

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/thor.jpg

“Thor’s Fight With the Giants”, Mårten Eskil Winge, 1872. (Wikimedia Commons)

The year ended on an idolatrous note with the Asatru Society, the religious organization that worships the Norse gods in Iceland, announcing the imminent completion of construction of the first temple to the Norse gods in 1,000 years. The pagan Norse religion has been making a comeback in recent years, fueled at least in part by its acceptance of homosexuality. A minor tourist industry has cropped up for foreigners who come to Iceland to have Asatru priests perform their same-sex wedding.

The Norse religion, based on Germanic paganism, is now a part of mainstream American pop culture. in 1962 when Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series featuring the god Thor and other characters from the Norse pantheon. In 2011, Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures released the movie “Thor”, based on the comic book. That was followed by two more movies, the most recent, “Ragnarok”, based on Norse eschatology.

Source: Is Rabbi’s 2017 Prediction of Rise of Idolatry Coming True? – Breaking Israel News | Latest News. Biblical Perspective.

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.

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.

The main points of the article are taken from the website of the Turkish SADAT International Defense and Consulting Company, which provides consultancy on defense and warfare, both conventional and unconventional, and on military organization, training and gear.

The company has an agenda of promoting pan-Islamic military cooperation. According to its mission statement, it seeks “to establish defense collaboration and defense industry cooperation among Islamic countries, to help the Islamic world take its rightful place among the superpowers by providing… strategic consultancy and training services to the militaries and homeland security forces of Islamic countries.”

According to Israeli security sources, the SADAT company is involved in aiding Hamas, and seeks to assist – with funds and military gear – the creation of a “Palestine Army” to fight Israel.

SADAT Founder Adnan Tanrıverdi

The SADAT company was founded by Erdoğan’s senior advisor on military affairs, retired general Adnan Tanrıverdi, and is chaired by his son, Melih Tanrıverdi. Adnan Tanrıverdi (b. 1944) served in the Turkish army’s Artillery Corps and headed the Home Front Command in northern Cyprus.

He is an expert on assymetric warfare, and was dismissed from the Turkish military in 1996 for his Islamists leadnings. A former Turkish army officer, Ahmet Yavuz, described him as “an enemy of Atatürk” and stated that his dismissal from the army was not surprising.

The Yeni Şafak article is based on a PDF booklet featuring a number of articles by Tanrıverdi, as well as other materials, that appeared on the homepage of SADAT’s website and has since been removed. Some of the articles are virulently anti-Israel and promote the goal of arming the Palestinians and forming an Army of Islam to eliminate Israel.

Tanrıverdi Associate Arrested In Israel On Suspicion Of Aiding Hamas

Recently, Israel became aware of Tanrıverdi’s activities after it arrested a Turkish academic, Cemil Tekeli, on suspicion of aiding Hamas terrorists in Turkey. According to the Israeli paper Makor Rishon, Tekeli, who has since been deported to Turkey, is a close associate of Adnan Tanrıverdi.

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The following are excerpts from the Yeni Şafak article:

“What If An Army Of Islam Was Formed Against Israel?

“If the OIC member states unite and form a joint military force, it will be the largest army in the world. 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 $174,728,420, is also worthy of emphasis.

“Half Of Istanbul”

“As for Israel, it is significantly inferior. 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 $15,600,000,000.

“Islamic Countries Will Lay Siege To Israel

“Among the decisions that can be taken at the OIC summit is to form a ‘Jerusalem Task Group.’ In this framework, military steps are likely to be taken. The Muslim armies, ranging from Africa to Asia, surpass the Israeli army in might. So if an Islamic army is formed, Israel will be under a siege.

“At The First Stage: 250 Thousand Soldiers”

“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.

“500 tanks and armored vehicles, 100 war planes, 500 attack helicopters and 50 warships and submarines can be mobilized.

“Military Bases Close to Israel Available For Immediate Action

“The war planes that will be dispatched to the region from greater distances will be stationed in airbases closer to Israel. Israel will most likely to be besieged by the naval fleets that will be sent to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

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“The Necessary Equipment Exists”

“The military capability of the OIC member states is considerable. These armies have the necessary equipment to carry out a military operation on land, sea and air.

“Even Turkey Alone Is Superior To Israel”

“Turkey will serve as an important headquarters during the operation, due to its land, air and naval infrastructures. 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.

“As the only country which possesses nuclear weapons, Pakistan has an important status among the 57 Muslim OIC countries…

“Those who believe that they are the owners of Jerusalem today will not find a single tree to hide behind tomorrow”

“Asia’s Military Defiance”

“In a statement, Malaysian Defense Minister [Hishammuddin] Hussein described 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.’

“Turkey Is Forming Alliances”

“In recent years, Turkey has launched a series of collaborations with OIC member states. The joint military drill with our Iraqi neighbors conveyed a clear message to the terrorists, and Turkey is also engaging in new collaborations with Qatar, Somalia and other Gulf and African countries.

In this context it should be underlined that Turkey is taking steps to realize the model of the ‘Army of Islam,’ forging alliances with many Muslim countries to increase its military mobility.”

Originally published at JNS.org – reposted with permission.

Source: Turkey To Lead Islamic Army Of 57 Muslim Nations Against Israel?

WAR: ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM CLERICS CALL FOR UPRISING TO PROTEST TRUMP’S DECISION TO MOVE EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM IN MAY

“We call for a Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, and popular uprising against this American aggression against the direction of the first prayer (the Al-Aqsa Mosque) and Muhammad’s place of worship,” said Qaradaghi in an official statement. He stressed that the issue of the city of Al-Quds (the Arabic name for Jerusalem -ed.) is an issue of concern to the entire Muslim nation, and renouncing it or harming it is a mark of Cain that Allah, history, and future generations will not be able to atone for.

ALI AL-QARADAGHI, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM SCHOLARS HEADED BY SHEIKH YUSUF AL-QARADAWI, IS CALLING FOR AN UPRISING OF PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS AGAINST THE AMERICAN ADMINISTRATION’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF ITS INTENTION TO MOVE THE U.S. EMBASSY FROM TEL AVIV TO JERUSALEM THIS MAY.

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Many people think that because Muslims have not yet launched a military action against Israel over the US Embassy move to Jerusalem, that there is not going to be one. But nothing could be further from the truth, the uprising is certainly coming. Like everything else that is prophetically percolating now, the month of May is shaping up to be when all the action on multiple fronts should be taking place. As the prophet Jeremiah tells us…after 70 years…here it comes. 

“For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” Jeremiah 20:10 (KJV)

“We call for a Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, and popular uprising against this American aggression against the direction of the first prayer (the Al-Aqsa Mosque) and Muhammad’s place of worship,” said Qaradaghi in an official statement.

He stressed that the issue of the city of Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, is an issue of concern to the entire Muslim nation, and renouncing it or harming it is a mark of Cain that Allah, history, and future generations will not be able to atone for.

MOVING THE U.S. EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM, CONTINUED QARADAGHI, IS “A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE MUSLIMS AND A STEP THAT WILL ESTABLISH THE ILLEGAL OCCUPATION.”

The Association of Muslim Scholars brings together clerics from around the world and is considered an influential organization in the Sunni Muslim world.

Its leader, Qaradawi, is considered the supreme religious authority of the Sunni Muslim world and the spiritual leader of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. During the period of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Qaradawi issued a fatwa permitting suicide attacks against Israel.

Last July, Qaradawi called for an “Islamic war” over Jerusalem. source

INDONESIAN CHRISTIANS PUBLICLY FLOGGED AND MOCKED OUTSIDE OF MUSLIM MOSQUE FOR VIOLATING SHARIA LAW

The two Indonesian Christians – Dahlan Silitonga, 61, and Tjia Nyuk Hwa, 45 – were whipped six and seven times respectively by a masked man wearing a robe, as a crowd of 300 ridiculed and took pictures of them outside a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. The strict Islamic law punishment against the Christian man and woman comes as the predominantly Muslim country shifts to a more radical, politicized version of Islam, Reuters reported.

INDONESIA PUBLICLY CANED TWO CHRISTIANS IN A RARE CASE OF NON-MUSLIMS PUNISHED UNDER SHARIA LAW.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In any country where Islam is in power, Sharia Law is enacted on not only Muslims but on non-Muslims as well. The Qu’ran commands muslims to make non-muslims submit to its laws. Isn’t it interesting when Sharia punishment is dished out, the  people doing the whipping are dressed all in black with a hood over their heads? Kinda reminds me of the KKK who dress all in white also with hoods over the heads to hide their identity. 

The two Indonesian Christians – Dahlan Silitonga, 61, and Tjia Nyuk Hwa, 45 – were whipped six and seven times respectively by a masked man wearing a robe, as a crowd of 300 ridiculed and took pictures of them outside a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

The strict Islamic law punishment against the Christian man and woman comes as the predominantly Muslim country shifts to a more radical, politicized version of Islam, Reuters reported.

The pair – among five people punished – was accused of gambling. Police said they were playing a game at a children’s entertainment complex that lets users exchange coins for prizes or vouchers, including cash. They were beaten with a rattan stick, while another man involved with them got 19 lashes.

ANOTHER COUPLE WAS WHIPPED TWO DOZEN TIMES FOR SHOWING AFFECTION IN PUBLIC.

Banda Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that imposes sharia law since it was adopted in 2001 as part of a deal with the central government to end a long-running insurgency. The province has flogged its non-Muslim citizens for a range of offenses – from gambling to selling alcohol to having gay or extramarital sex.

“This is to create a deterrent effect, in order for people not to repeat violations of Islamic sharia law,” Banda Aceh’s mayor Aminullah Usman said. “We purposely do it in front of the public … so it won’t happen again.”

INDONESIA IS THE COUNTRY WITH THE LARGEST MUSLIM POPULATION IN THE WORLD.

Around 98% of Banda Aceh’s population are Muslims subject to sharia law, but the other portion, Christians and other non-Muslims, when accused of violating both national and religious laws can choose to be prosecuted under either system, often opting for a flogging to avoid a lengthy, costly court process and jail time.

In January, a Christian man was whipped 36 times for selling alcohol and recently the country came under fire after police arrested and publicly humiliated transgender people.

Last year, Indonesia jailed Christian governor, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, for blaspheming the Koran, prompting massive protests and pushback on the country’s stance as a bulwark of tolerance and pluralism in the Islamic world. source

On EWTN Orthodox Catholic author warns Pope Francis has deliberately created confusion

Phil lawler on EWTNEWTN video frame

NEWSCATHOLIC CHURCH, FAITHFri Mar 2, 2018 – 7:48 pm EST

Lisa Bourne Follow Lisa

 Amoris Laetitia , Catholic Church , Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock , Phil Lawler , Pope Francis , Raymond Arroyo , The World Over

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 2, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has deliberately created confusion to allow for Catholic teaching to be circumvented, a longtime Catholic commentator has said, and Francis’ inner circle contains people more radical in their beliefs than him.

Further, five years into Francis’ papacy, the mandate the pope was given to reform the Curia and Vatican finances has not been satisfied, Catholic World News Editor Philip Lawler said, because it’s not high on Francis’ agenda.

Intervention is needed in the direction Francis is taking the Church, Lawler said in a discussion on The World Over centering on some of the confusing and controversial aspects of the Francis pontificate. (Interview with Lawler begins at 23:05 in the video below)

EWTN anchor and Managing Editor Raymond Arroyo welcomed Lawler Thursday for a discussion of Lawler’s just released book “Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock” (2018) Regnery.

“Pope Francis has created enough confusion so that there is a huge space for maneuver for people who want to one way or another take an end around around Church moral teachings,” Lawler told Arroyo at the start of their conversation. Arroyo assented this has been done through the Francis pontificate’s much-touted notions of accompaniment and mercy.

Released February 26, Arroyo pointed out the book has earned criticism for Lawler. Others noted prior to his book’s release the significance of Lawler, not at all known as an explosive Catholic observer, feeling compelled to write in criticism of the pope.

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Lawler clarified for Arroyo that he did not want to write the book critical of Francis when asked what moved him to do so. It came after an essay he’d written a year ago for CatholicCulture.com when he’d reached a boiling point of frustration with the confusion.

Significant resonation with the frustration

Titled “This Disastrous Papacy,” Lawler recounted that the post prompted more reaction than anything else he’s written in 30 years of journalism. In working on the book, Lawler said he found people in need of reassurance amid the concerning direction of the papacy, along with being beset by the question of whether they were alone in feeling this.

“And I said, that tells me there’s a hunger out there,” recalled Lawler. “There are people who are very much confused and dismayed and feeling betrayed, and wondering, “Is something wrong with them, is something wrong with the faith?”

“And I found that as I spoke with these people, oddly enough they felt reassured by what I was saying,” Lawler said. “Because if you say, “No you’re not crazy, yes, there is a problem, we have a problem with the pope,” (people then understand it’s not just them thinking this).

The pope’s apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia was the final straw for Lawler, who told Arroyo he was originally very enthusiastic about Pope Francis, but over time became more and more concerned, dismayed and disoriented.

“When I saw what happened with the manipulation of the Synod and then with Amoris laetitia coming after it, I said, “This is more than simply imprudence in expression,”’ Lawler explained. “This is a deliberate effort to confuse.”

AL achieves the opposite of the Synod’s expressed intent

“The problem is that Amoris laetitia is intentionally unclear on the one question that everybody had topmost in their mind going into both meetings of the Synod,” Lawler reminded Arroyo, “which is, “Will the Church change her perennial teaching that Catholics who are divorced and remarried illicitly cannot receive Communion?”’

“The general impression certainly created by the apostolic exhortation is that the Church has changed her teaching,” stated Lawler.

Arroyo and Lawler discussed the conflicting interpretations of the pope’s document throughout the world, with some bishops saying the Church’s pastoral practice has changed and others saying it had not – and the faithful being left in the middle. They talked as well about how, when pastoral practice is changed, the result is doctrine no longer matters anymore because “the lived doctrine” has become unrecognizable – which is the same end result as changing Church teaching.

“That’s precisely the point,” Lawler told Arroyo. “Why else would Pope Francis have declined to answer the dubia – the perfectly legitimate questions from four cardinals asking him for clarity?”

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“Why would you not want clarity?” asked Lawler. “Unless your intent was to provide that fuzzy space in which people can maneuver around Church teaching.”

Arroyo asked Lawler to respond to comments made in 2015 by one member of the pope’s circle, Archbishop Victor Fernandez, that Francis is aiming at irreversible reform in the Church.

Lawler responded that he didn’t know why Francis would have this as his goal.

“But there’s something inherently wrong with the idea of irreversible reform unless what you mean by reform is back to the fundamentals of the Catholic faith,” he added, “because the role of the pope is inherently to conserve, to protect the deposit of the faith.”

Arroyo quizzed Lawler on the provocative nature of his book and its title, and whether he was at all reticent about it.

Intervention needed

“I don’t enjoy criticizing the pope,” Lawler told him. “But there’s a point at which in a loving family, if the father has a problem, you have to confront it. Eventually there has to be an intervention – And we need an intervention.”

The men talked about the odd nature of the Francis’ election, and whether there’s any validity to rumors that his election was orchestrated.

Lawler said some cardinals had given the clear impression that they were lobbying for Francis, which is not licit. This did not shock him, and he wished it weren’t the case.

Sharing an excerpt from the book in which Lawler details coming to the troubling conclusion that Francis was a radical leading the Church away from the ancient sources of the faith, Arroyo asked Lawler why Francis would think he could get away with this, or whether the problem is more one of his advisors and confidants.

“I do believe there are people surrounding this pope who are much more radical in their beliefs than he is,” Lawler said. “It is suggestive, again, that with Amoris laetitia Pope Francis does not directly contradict Church teaching – it’s in footnotes, it’s in the space between the lines.”

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Because of the confusion that has spread throughout the Church, Lawler shared with Arroyo that people in the last week since his book has come out have asked him a lot of questions about whether the Church has changed its teaching on various things.

“And I say, No,” Lawler said. “But they had that impression; Why? Because the lid is off.”

An absence of authentic reform

Asked by Arroyo if there was a conflict between Francis’ public persona and the means of governing under his pontificate, Lawler said, “yes”.

The cardinals before him were talking about the need for reform of the curia and the economic workings of the Vatican, said Lawler, and for accountability and responsibility.

“But as far as the mandate for reform – it simply hasn’t happened,” he stated. “The curia has not been significantly reformed. There have been some shuffling of responsibilities, but we’re now five years in, and there’s not substantial reform. As far as the economic reform that has tumbled and fallen apart completely.”

“He had a mandate for reform and it’s not happening,” added Lawler. “It’s not at the top if his agenda. He’s doing different things.”

What’s unfortunately happened, he said, is that the old guard at the Vatican has become even more entrenched, “And there’s less accountability than there was five year ago.”

Lawler called upon Catholics to pray, both for the pope and for those around him.

“And as a practical matter, you ask your own bishop to stand up and help bring clarity back in an age of confusion,” Lawler concluded. “If that means saying unpopular things, I’m sorry, well, say unpopular things.”

Suspected Al Shabaab Militants Kill Three Christians in Northeast Kenya, Sources Say

Morning Star News East Africa Correspondent | Morning Star News | Tuesday, February 20, 2018

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Suspected members of Islamic extremist group Al Shabaab shot three Christians to death in northeastern Kenya at 1 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 16), sources said.

Targeting Kenyans who came from other areas to work in predominantly Somali Wajir, some 100 miles from the Somali border, the suspected terrorists from the Somali rebel group entered the sleeping quarters of personnel at Qarsa Primary School and killed two Christian teachers and the wife of one of them, sources told Morning Star News.

After killing Seth Oluoch Odada, his wife Caroline and teacher Kevin Shari, one of the assailants said in the Somali language, “These infidels [non-Muslims] should be wiped out,” a teacher who survived the attack told a worker at Wajir Referral Hospital, the worker told Morning Star News.

The pastor of an area church, undisclosed for security reasons, told Morning Star News that Odada and his wife attended his church.

“We are very concerned about this selective kind of attack on non-locals who are also Christians in this region,” the pastor said. “Our other church members are not safe. Many of the church members, including teachers, have started fleeing the area to their home villages, and some did not attend the church for the Sunday service.”

It was not known if Shari belonged to a church. The bodies of those killed have been transferred to Chiromo Mortuary in Nairobi.

The hospital worker said that after shooting the couple, one of the assailants entered the house Shari shared with the surviving teacher. The gunman shot at Shari, and the same bullet struck the hand of the survivor, who fell down and pretended to be dead, the hospital source said, adding that the injured man said the shooter wore a mask typical of Al Shabaab militants.

The area pastor said local people believe area residents have joined Al Shabaab.

“I think these are the people who killed the three Christians,” he said.

Wajir is becoming increasingly dangerous for Christians since Al Shabaab militants appear to have shifted from Mandera, where they have carried out attacks in the past few years before the government recently erected a 10-kilometer wall on the border there, the pastor said.

Fear has shaken Christians in Wajir, he said. In Garissa, about 200 miles south of Wajir also near the Somali border, Al Shabaab has also been active. The pastors fellowship in Garissa reported several members did not appear for Sunday services.

“We as the pastors fellowship do register our concern to the government to protect Christians living in this volatile northeastern country,” the chairman of the pastor’s fellowship said.

The Wajir branch of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers called for the withdrawal of all non-local teachers in Wajir County if the government fails to increase security.

“We cannot close our eyes as non-local teachers are being butchered,” a union official told Morning Star News.

Education along Kenya’s border with Somalia has been hobbled after non-Muslim teachers inn 2014 began refusing to work in the region following frequent attacks by Al Shabaab and its sympathizers on non-Muslims.

A Wajir police official reportedly said Al Shabaab also set an Improvised Explosive Device on the route to the school, which detonated and hit a security vehicle responding to the attack. No one was injured.

Rebels from Al Shabaab, which is allied with Al Qaeda, have launched several attacks in northeast Kenya since Kenyan forces led an African coalition into Somalia against the rebels in October 2011 in response to terrorist attacks on tourists and others on Kenya’s coast.

The Islamic extremist militants have also recently attacked in Kenya’s coastal area, killing four Christians on Sept. 6, 2017.

Kenya ranked 32^nd on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

GUCCI MODELS AT MILAN FASHION WEEK FEATURED CYBORGS CARRYING SEVERED HEADS FOR ‘FEMINIST MESSAGE’

Michele’s vision for Gucci includes models who are genderless: Men wear “women’s” clothing and vice versa, something he has done for several seasons now. He toys with the idea that in the future, traditional notions of men and women will no longer exist. As written in the show notes, “The collection goes further beyond, taking the shape of a genuine Cyborg Manifesto (D.J. Haraway), in which the hybrid is metaphorically praised as a figure that can overcome the dualism and the dichotomy of identity. The Cyborg, in fact, is a paradoxical creature keeping together nature and culture, masculine and feminine, normal and alien, psyche and matter.”

ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON DURING MILAN FASHION WEEK, GUCCI STAGED A SPECTACULAR YET PECULIAR FASHION SHOW THAT INCLUDED “CYBORG” MODELS — WHICH, UPON A DEEPER LOOK, POSSESSED AN UNDERLYING METAPHORICAL FEMINIST MESSAGE.

“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:3-5 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cyborg models carrying severed heads preaching from the Feminist Manifesto paints a rather bleak vision of the future, but one that is exactly in line with how life will be in the time of Jacob’s trouble. Transhumanism is no longer science fiction but an abject fact of human life in the 21st century, and it will only get worse and weirder as time goes on. Does it seem to you like this lost and unsaved world is preparing to meet and live under Antichrist? You’d be correct. Good thing the Rapture of the Church comes first. 

In the Gucci show notes, creative director Alessandro Michele referenced A Cyborg Manifesto, written by Donna Haraway in 1984. In it, Haraway uses the concept of a “cyborg” to represent women, without the constraints of society’s traditional gender labels. As one Wired writer notes, the cyborg in Haraway’s piece “trashes the big oppositions between nature and culture, self and world that run through so much of our thought.”

It poses the idea that all of us are not “naturally made” — or rather, we are “constructed,” like a cyborg. And if “given the right tools, we can all be reconstructed.” That is to say, women aren’t born to be wives, born to work in the house, or “naturally” submissive and overly emotional people. Women can choose to be however they want to be.

Today, feminism is defined as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” But in Gucci’s world, sexes and genders do not exist. So Michele raises a bigger question: Why let traditional gender constraints put forth by society stop women from moving forward with their goals and dreams?

Michele’s vision for Gucci includes models who are genderless: Men wear “women’s” clothing and vice versa, something he has done for several seasons now. He toys with the idea that in the future, traditional notions of men and women will no longer exist. As written in the show notes, “The collection goes further beyond, taking the shape of a genuine Cyborg Manifesto (D.J. Haraway), in which the hybrid is metaphorically praised as a figure that can overcome the dualism and the dichotomy of identity. The Cyborg, in fact, is a paradoxical creature keeping together nature and culture, masculine and feminine, normal and alien, psyche and matter.”

MICHELE CONTINUES, “GUCCI CYBORG IS POST-HUMAN: IT HAS EYES ON ITS HEADS, FAUN HORNS, DRAGON PUPPIES AND DOUBLING HEADS. IT’S A BIOLOGICALLY INDEFINITE AND CULTURALLY AWARE CREATURE.” HE REFERS TO THESE “GUCCI CYBORGS” AS MONGRELS, WHICH SUGGEST INDEFINABLE, INTERMIXED BREEDS.

In a show setting that mimicked a surgical operating room, models walked down the Gucci runway carrying their own severed “heads,” as well as an artificial baby dragon, chameleon, and snake, re-created for a different kind of world. The collection included Michele’s signature maximalist style, with beaded jackets layered atop patterned blouses and floral trousers underneath plaid skirts. Ruffled velvet dresses were styled with turbans, and knit balaclavas were paired with exaggerated metallic Victorian blouses.

There were several pop culture, cinematic, and athletic references too. Logomania was front and center, something the Gucci house is very familiar with. But instead of just using their brand, they focused on Paramount Pictures, the New York Yankees, and the San Francisco Giants, whose logos were all displayed on various cardigans and coats.

In one film reference, Michele designed a shirt with a feminist twist, showcasing the poster for the 1965 film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! which was initially deemed sexist in the ’60s but later hailed as a feminist classic.

Who knew that a collection that at first glance appeared so wild was advocating for a “post-human” version of feminism? It’s often difficult to predict what Alessandro Michele will do next, but this season surely takes the cake. source

Pope Francis Caught Lying About Catholic Church Sexual Abuse By Priests In Chile, Covered It Up

The Barros affair first caused shockwaves in January 2015 when Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno, Chile, over the objections of the leadership of Chile’s bishops’ conference and many local priests and laity. They accepted as credible the testimony against Karadima, a prominent Chilean cleric who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for abusing minors. Barros was a Karadima protege, and according to Cruz and other victims, he witnessed the abuse and did nothing.

Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter’s author and members of Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press.

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” Revelation 17:5,6 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope Francis came in to “clean up” the Catholic Church, promising “zero tolerance” for priests who sexually abused thier followers. But sadly, this has not been the case. In the most explosive revelations to date, Pope Francis has been caught lying about widespread sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Chile, and about the letter hand-delivered to him written by Juan Carlos Cruz exposing it all. 

The fact that Pope Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has “zero tolerance” for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy.

The scandal exploded last month when Francis’ trip to South America was marred by protests over his vigorous defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. During the trip, Francis callously dismissed accusations against Barros as “slander,” seemingly unaware that victims had placed him at the scene of Karadima’s crimes.

On the plane home, confronted by an AP reporter, the pope said: “You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven’t seen any, because they haven’t come forward.”

But members of the pope’s Commission for the Protection of Minors say that in April 2015, they sent a delegation to Rome specifically to hand-deliver a letter to the pope about Barros. The letter from Juan Carlos Cruz detailed the abuse, kissing and fondling he says he suffered at Karadima’s hands, which he said Barros and others witnessed and ignored.

Four members of the commission met with Francis’ top abuse adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, explained their objections to Francis’ recent appointment of Barros as a bishop in southern Chile, and gave him the letter to deliver to Francis.

“When we gave him (O’Malley) the letter for the pope, he assured us he would give it to the pope and speak of the concerns,” then-commission member Marie Collins told the AP. “And at a later date, he assured us that that had been done.”

Cruz, who now lives and works in Philadelphia, heard the same later that year.

“Cardinal O’Malley called me after the pope’s visit here in Philadelphia and he told me, among other things, that he had given the letter to the pope — in his hands,” he said in an interview at his home Sunday.

Neither the Vatican nor O’Malley responded to multiple requests for comment.

While the 2015 summit of Francis’ commission was known and publicized at the time, the contents of Cruz’s letter — and a photograph of Collins handing it to O’Malley — were not disclosed by members. Cruz provided the letter, and Collins provided the photo, after reading an AP story that reported Francis had claimed to have never heard from any Karadima victims about Barros’ behavior.

The Barros affair first caused shockwaves in January 2015 when Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno, Chile, over the objections of the leadership of Chile’s bishops’ conference and many local priests and laity. They accepted as credible the testimony against Karadima, a prominent Chilean cleric who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for abusing minors. Barros was a Karadima protege, and according to Cruz and other victims, he witnessed the abuse and did nothing.

“Holy Father, I write you this letter because I’m tired of fighting, of crying and suffering,” Cruz wrote in Francis’ native Spanish. “Our story is well known and there’s no need to repeat it, except to tell you of the horror of having lived this abuse and how I wanted to kill myself.”

Cruz and other survivors had for years denounced the cover-up of Karadima’s crimes, but were dismissed as liars by the Chilean church hierarchy and the Vatican’s own ambassador in Santiago, who refused their repeated requests to meet before and after Barros was appointed.

After Francis’ comments backing the Chilean hierarchy caused such an outcry in Chile, he was forced last week to do an about-face: The Vatican announced it was sending in its most respected sex-crimes investigator to take testimony from Cruz and others about Barros.

In the letter to the pope, Cruz begs for Francis to listen to him and make good on his pledge of “zero tolerance.”

“Holy Father, it’s bad enough that we suffered such tremendous pain and anguish from the sexual and psychological abuse, but the terrible mistreatment we received from our pastors is almost worse,” he wrote.

Cruz goes on to detail in explicit terms the homo-eroticized nature of the circle of priests and young boys around Karadima, the charismatic preacher whose El Bosque community in the well-to-do Santiago neighborhood of Providencia produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops, including Barros.

He described how Karadima would kiss Barros and fondle his genitals, and do the same with younger priests and teens, and how young priests and seminarians would fight to sit next to Karadima at the table to receive his affections.

“More difficult and tough was when we were in Karadima’s room and Juan Barros — if he wasn’t kissing Karadima — would watch when Karadima would touch us — the minors — and make us kiss him, saying: ‘Put your mouth near mine and stick out your tongue.’ He would stick his out and kiss us with his tongue,” Cruz told the pope. “Juan Barros was a witness to all this innumerable times, not just with me but with others as well.”

“Juan Barros covered up everything that I have told you,” he added.

Barros has repeatedly denied witnessing any abuse or covering it up. “I never knew anything about, nor ever imagined, the serious abuses which that priest committed against the victims,” he told the AP recently. “I have never approved of nor participated in such serious, dishonest acts, and I have never been convicted by any tribunal of such things.”

For the Osorno faithful who have opposed Barros as their bishop, the issue isn’t so much a legal matter requiring proof or evidence, as Barros was a young priest at the time and not in a position of authority over Karadima. It’s more that if Barros didn’t “see” what was happening around him and doesn’t find it problematic for a priest to kiss and fondle young boys, he shouldn’t be in charge of a diocese where he is responsible for detecting inappropriate sexual behavior, reporting it to police and protecting children from pedophiles like his mentor.

Cruz had arrived at Karadima’s community in 1980 as a vulnerable teenager, distraught after the recent death of his father. He has said Karadima told him he would be like a spiritual father to him, but instead sexually abused him.

Based on testimony from Cruz and other former members of the parish, the Vatican in 2011 removed Karadima from ministry and sentenced him to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for his crimes. Now 87, he lives in a home for elderly priests in Santiago; he hasn’t commented on the scandal and the home has declined to accept calls or visits from the news media.

The victims also testified to Chilean prosecutors, who opened an investigation into Karadima after they went public with their accusations in 2010. Chilean prosecutors had to drop charges because too much time had passed, but the judge running the case stressed that it wasn’t for lack of proof.

While the victims’ testimony was deemed credible by both Vatican and Chilean prosecutors, the local church hierarchy clearly didn’t believe them, which might have influenced Francis’ view. Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz has acknowledged he didn’t believe the victims initially and shelved an investigation. He was forced to reopen it after the victims went public.

He is now one of the Argentine pope’s key cardinal advisers.

By the time he finally got his letter into the pope’s hands in 2015, Cruz had already sent versions to many other people, and had tried for months to get an appointment with the Vatican ambassador. The embassy’s Dec. 15, 2014, email to Cruz — a month before Barros was appointed — was short and to the point:

“The apostolic nunciature has received the message you emailed Dec. 7 to the apostolic nuncio,” it read, “and at the same time communicates that your request has been met with an unfavorable response.”

One could argue that Francis didn’t pay attention to Cruz’s letter, since he receives thousands of letters every day from faithful around the world. He can’t possibly read them all, much less remember the contents years later. He might have been tired and confused after a weeklong trip to South America when he told an airborne press conference that victims never came forward to accuse Barros of cover-up.

But this was not an ordinary letter, nor were the circumstances under which it arrived in the Vatican.

Francis had named O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, to head his Commission for the Protection of Minors based on his credibility in having helped clean up the mess in Boston after the U.S. sex abuse scandal exploded there in 2002. The commission gathered outside experts to advise the church on protecting children from pedophiles and educating church personnel about preventing abuse and cover-ups.

The four commission members who were on a special subcommittee dedicated to survivors had flown to Rome specifically to speak with O’Malley about the Barros appointment and to deliver Cruz’s letter. A press release issued after the April 12, 2015, meeting read: “Cardinal O’Malley agreed to present the concerns of the subcommittee to the Holy Father.”

Commission member Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist who took the photo of Collins handing the letter to O’Malley, said the commission members had decided to descend on Rome specifically when O’Malley and other members of the pope’s group of nine cardinal advisers were meeting, so that O’Malley could put it directly into the pope’s hands.

“Cardinal O’Malley promised us when Marie gave to him the letter of Juan Carlos that he will give to Pope Francis,” she said.

O’Malley’s spokesman in Boston referred requests for comment to the Vatican. Neither the Vatican press office, nor officials at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, responded to calls and emails seeking comment.

But O’Malley’s remarkable response to Francis’ defense of Barros and to his dismissal of the victims while he was in Chile, is perhaps now better understood.

In a rare rebuke of a pope by a cardinal, O’Malley issued a statement Jan. 20 in which he said the pope’s words were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse,” and that such expressions had the effect of abandoning victims and relegating them to “discredited exile.”

A day later, Francis apologized for having demanded “proof” of wrongdoing by Barros, saying he meant merely that he wanted to see “evidence.” But he continued to describe the accusations against Barros as “calumny” and insisted he had never heard from any victims.

Even when told in his airborne press conference Jan. 21 that Karadima’s victims had indeed placed Barros at the scene of Karadima’s abuse, Francis said: “No one has come forward. They haven’t provided any evidence for a judgment. This is all a bit vague. It’s something that can’t be accepted.”

He stood by Barros, saying: “I’m certain he’s innocent,” even while saying that he considered the testimony of victims to be “evidence” in a cover-up investigation.

“If anyone can give me evidence, I’ll be the first to listen,” he said.

Cruz said he felt like he had been slapped when he heard those words. “I was upset,” he said, “and at the same time I couldn’t believe that someone so high up like the pope himself could lie about this.” source

Canadian Government Forces Employers To Endorse Abortion, LGTB Agenda For Grants

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By PNW Staff January 26, 2018

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Those with a conservative and evangelical leaning often agree that the act of abortion and living a gay lifestyle is morally wrong. For many, this is based on God’s Word the Bible where the scriptures talk about the sanctity of life and the negative implications of alternative lifestyles on numerous occasions.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this truth. Some of those who disagree are making their voices heard within the Canadian government.  According to recent reports out of Canada, not only is the federal government not pro-life or pro-traditional marriage, but they are actually making it harder for those who are to find and pay employees. Read on to learn more:

The Job Program is In the Crosshair of The Controversy

The job program in the crosshair of the Canadian controversy is the summer job programs funded by government grants. It is officially called the Canada Summer Jobs Program. The problem many on the right have with this program has nothing to do with the jobs it subsidizes.

Instead, it’s the requirement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s liberal government has placed on businesses who wish to receive funding for summer work as part of said program.

The Unfair Requirements Placed on Canadian Businesses

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government changed the application process for Canada Summer Jobs after vowing last year to stop pro-life groups from receiving grants through the federal program.

Employment Minister Patty Hajdu added the requirement that employers sign an attestation that their “core mandate” supports reproductive and transgender “rights.”

Online applicants must check off the attestation or the application is void.

What This Means in Real World Terms

According to Brad Trost, a conservative MP, this is blatant discrimination against people of faith:

“In practical terms, this means you have to be with the Liberal Party position on abortion, gay marriage, transgendered rights, all sorts of legislation in the House of Commons, otherwise, you will be an ineligible employer for this program. That’s wrong. That’s discrimination.”

He goes on to point out an additional problem with the new regulations:

“The second problem with this is it automatically excludes all faith-based organizations that are traditional on their values of human life and sexual morality. That includes millions and millions of Canadians.”

 

There Are Many More Who Also Dislike The Changes

It isn’t just Trost who is sounding the alarm about this new legislation. Ontario MP Bev Shipley also expressed disagreement with the changes,

“Many organizations depend heavily on our Canada Summer Jobs funding to run their summer programs and their seasonal businesses. Students are going to lose out on opportunities for employment or experience. This new requirement will directly affect all program applicants who have a different core value than the Trudeau government.”

 

Canada’s Summer Job Program Only The Beginning

This blurring of Liberal beliefs with government operations isn’t limited to summer jobs. The Trudeau government recently created a $400-million venture capital fund that similarly requires firms to declare their commitment to “gender balance” before they can access any money.

The Trudeau government has also banned activities and projects that don’t support “reproductive” or transgender rights from getting funds from Canada Service Corp, the youth volunteer program.

This mindset, that If you don’t agree with the Liberal view of the world, you aren’t eligible for government benefits. It is almost a communist mindset.

What’s next? Will old age payments and unemployment benefits soon be subject to Liberal value loyalty oaths as well?

What This Means For American Conservatives

The lesson to take from what’s going on in Canada is never to allow a government to assume such  control. When they have too much power, they are able to make large, sweeping decisions like this one in Canada that can negatively impact the way of life for many people.

Just look at the abortion and gay right’s issues in America as another example of government overreach. Well known Conservative commentator Al Mohler had this warning on the issue:

“The most troubling part of the Prime Minister’s statement in recent days was his elimination of a pro-life position as having any place whatsoever in Canada’s public conversation. Furthermore with a student jobs program, he has indicated his own willingness and the willingness of his government to use government coercion in order to make this point. … 

 

This should remind Christians of the argument made by New York Times columnist Frank Bruni just a couple of years ago when he argued that religious liberty when especially it comes to an issue like the morality of homosexuality would protect the rights of American citizens to hold those beliefs in their hearts and in their homes and in their pews but not in public. Now you have the Canadian Prime Minister making a very similar argument but applied to the question of abortion. 

 

And we should note that a New York Times columnist has the power to influence and make an argument, but the Canadian prime minister has the authority and political power to create policies that would bind the Canadian people”.

Our neighbors to the north are quickly having their freedom to publicly express views that contradict the government taken away. It’s time to value the freedom of speech we have been given and to make sure similar policies are never passed here.

CATHOLIC PRIEST COMES OUT OF CLOSET, TELLS PARISHIONERS BEING GAY IS IN THE ‘LIKENESS OF GOD’ GETS STANDING OVATION

“I will embrace the person that God created me to be,” the gay Catholic priest Father Greiten wrote. “In my priestly life and ministry, I, too, will help you, whether you are gay or straight, bisexual or transgendered, to be your authentic self — to be fully alive living in your image and likeness of God.

A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST IN MILWAUKEE HAS COME OUT AS GAY, WRITING THAT HE WILL NO LONGER LIVE IN THE SHADOWS OF SECRECY AND PLANS TO BE AUTHENTIC TO HIS GAY SELF.

“…But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Romans 7:13 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Soooo, still not convinced we are living in the end times? How about this? A Roman Catholic priest stands up in front of his followers and declares not only that he is gay, but that being queer is in the ‘likeness of God’. Their reaction? They give him a standing ovation and applaud his courage. Kinda like cheering your damnation at the White Throne Judgment. So not only has “father” Greiten decided to embrace his sin, he also decided to drag God into the mess and say that God approves of it. I was a Catholic for 30 years before I got saved and became a Christian. Like the Bible commands, I battle the sins in my own life on a daily basis. Sometimes I get the victory and sometimes I don’t. But when you reach the point when you stop fighting and embrace what God hates, and then lie and say God approves of it, that’s a very scary place to be. The Roman Catholic church is not Christian, was never Christian, and will never be a Christian organization. Is it any wonder that God takes pleasure in destroying this evil institution in Revelation 18? 

The Rev. Gregory Greiten disclosed his sexual orientation on Sunday to the catholic St. Bernadette Parish and was greeted with a standing ovation from his parishioners, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported . He also wrote a column that was published Monday in the National Catholic Reporter.

It’s rare for a priest to come out. Greiten said he revealed his sexual orientation because he wants to be a role model for others. He said he’s helping to break the silence of gay men in the clergy so he could reclaim his own voice.

“I WILL EMBRACE THE PERSON THAT GOD CREATED ME TO BE,” GREITEN WROTE. “IN MY PRIESTLY LIFE AND MINISTRY, I, TOO, WILL HELP YOU, WHETHER YOU ARE GAY OR STRAIGHT, BISEXUAL OR TRANSGENDERED, TO BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF — TO BE FULLY ALIVE LIVING IN YOUR IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD.”

Greiten wrote that has decided to stand with the “few courageous priests who have taken the risk to come out of the shadows and have chosen to live in truth and authenticity.”

The Catholic church’s silent stance on gay priests perpetuates toxic shaming and systematic secrecy, Greiten wrote. The church needs healthy role models for priests who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation, he said.

GREITEN MET WITH MILWAUKEE ARCHBISHOP JEROME LISTECKI BEFORE COMING OUT, ACCORDING TO AN ARCHDIOCESE SPOKESWOMAN.

“We support Father Greiten in his own personal journey and telling his story of coming to understand and live with his sexual orientation,” Listecki said in a statement Monday. “As the Church teaches, those with same-sex attraction must be treated with understanding and compassion.” source

Pope Francis Sides With Muslim Activist Groups Over Declaration Of Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel

“Concerns about the prospective for peace in the region are the object in these days of various initiatives, among them meetings called urgently by the Arab League and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation,” the communiqué read.

On Sunday the Vatican issued a communiqué appealing for cooperation with groups like the Arab League that are concerned with the recent decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“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 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Before Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Pope Francis prayed that it would remain forever divided. In the aftermath of Trump’s decision, he now expresses support for the Arab League and the Organization For Islamic Cooperation. Can you guess which side the pope is rooting for?

“Concerns about the prospectives for peace in the region are the object in these days of various initiatives, among them meetings called urgently by the Arab League and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation,” the communiqué read.

“The Holy See is attentive to these concerns, and recalling the heartfelt words of Pope Francis, reiterates its well-known position concerning the singular character of the Holy City and the essential need for respecting the status quo, in conformity with the deliberations of the international community and the repeated requests of the hierarchies of the Churches and Christian communities of the Holy Land,” it said.

The statement came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to move the U.S. embassy to Israel from its present location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as well as formally recognizing the Holy City as the capital of the Israeli state. The communiqué was released in both Italian and English.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed for respect for the “status quo” in Jerusalem, after the United States announced the transfer of its embassy in Israel to the Holy City.

“My thoughts now turn to Jerusalem,” the Pope said in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall after his weekly General Audience. “I cannot remain silent about my deep concern for the situation that has been created in the last days.”

“At the same time, I would like to make a heartfelt appeal for everyone’s commitment to respect the city’s status quo, in conformity with the pertinent United Nations Resolutions,” he said.

On the same day, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published an article titled “Trump Inflames the Middle East,” describing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel as igniting a powder keg in the region.

The article spoke of an increased “risk of terrorism in the region” as well as “mounting fears of possible demonstrations of protest and unrest.” The announcement has given rise to “profound perplexity” even within the Trump administration, the Vatican daily declared.

In its communiqué Sunday, the Vatican reiterated its “conviction that only a negotiated solution between Israelis and Palestinians can bring a stable and lasting peace, and guarantee the peaceful co-existence of two states within internationally recognized borders.”

The statement said that the Holy See “follows with great attention the developments of the situation in the Middle East, with special reference to Jerusalem, a sacred city for Christians, Jews and Muslims from all over the world.” source

As Trump Weighs Jerusalem Decision, 151 UN Member Nations Vote To Disavow Israeli Ties To Capital

The United Nations resolution came as the Trump Administration was rumored to be actively considering relocating its embassy to Jerusalem. “The president has said that he has given serious consideration to the matter, and we’re looking at it with great care,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

by Geoffrey Grider December 2, 2017

The resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” Zechariah 14:2 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Bible says that in the time of Jacob’s trouble, all the nations of the world follow Antichrist and come against Israel in a military strike at the Battle of Armageddon. The UN vote yesterday to deny Israel any right to be connected to its historic capital city of Jerusalem is a small foretaste of what’s coming in the near future. Why all the fuss over tiny little Jerusalem? Because the Bible says that Jerusalem is the “city of the great King”, Jesus Christ, and the Devil says that he will take it instead. Armageddon is fought over who has rights to it. And in a great ironic twist, Zechariah states that God will “gather all nations” to battle against Jerusalem, right? What is the UN but the “gathering of all nations”? Now you know the guaranteed future of the United Nations, as prophesied in your King James Bible.

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to disavow Israeli ties to Jerusalem as part of six anti-Israel resolutions it approved on Thursday in New York. The vote was 151 in favor and six against, with nine abstentions.

The resolution came as the Trump Administration was rumored to be actively considering relocating its embassy to Jerusalem. “The president has said that he has given serious consideration to the matter, and we’re looking at it with great care,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

She added that US President Donald Trump had until December 4th to make a decision on the embassy relocation or waive the matter for another six months.

In New York, only six countries out of 193 UN member states fully supported Israel’s ties Jerusalem: Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, the United States and Israel itself. The nine countries who abstained were: Australia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Honduras, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan and Togo.

The resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”

These words fall in line with similar resolutions approved in 2015 and 2016 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), including the resolution’s omission of the title “Temple Mount,” using instead only the Arabic term for the site, “Haram al-Sharif.”

The UNGA’s Jerusalem resolution called for “respect for the historic status quo at the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharif, in word and practice.” But the UNESCO votes are taken in smaller committees or boards and do not have the same representative power as the UNGA to measure the global opinion of UN member states.

The voting patterns of many of Israel’s allies, particularly among the EU nations, also differ in New York. The same countries that oppose or abstain from anti-Israel votes at UNESCO or the UN Human Rights Council often support such texts at the UNGA.

On Thursday, all the EU member states voted against Israel and in favor of the Jerusalem resolution, including countries that abstained or opposed the same text at UNESCO. In a statement to the UNGA after the vote, the EU warned it would change its stance on such texts in the future unless the language was more neutral.

“The EU stresses the need for language on the holy sites of Jerusalem to reflect the importance and historical significance of the holy sites for the three monotheistic religions,” the Estonian representative said on behalf of the EU.

“The future choice of language may effect the EU’s collective support for the resolution,” she added.

Mexico also voted against Israel with regard to the Jerusalem resolution, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just lauded the country for its support of Israel at the UN. Kenya, which recently hosted Netanyahu, also voted against the resolution with regard to Jerusalem on Thursday.

HOW DONALD TRUMP MOVING THE U.S. EMBASSY FROM TEL AVIV TO JERUSALEM COULD TRIGGER THE PSALM 83 WAR

Israel’s representative at the meeting said the omission of Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, was deliberate and yet “another instance of the Palestinian refusal to recognize the proven historic connection between Judaism, Christianity and the Temple Mount.”

The US opposed the resolutions. Its representative expressed disappointment that despite supposed support for reform, UN members continued to single out Israel. This year alone, he said, the UN’s bodies have approved 18 resolutions that were biased against Israel.

“This dynamic is unacceptable. It is inappropriate that the UN, an institution founded on the idea that all nations should be treated equally, should be so often used by member states to treat another state so unequally,” he said.

The UNSG on Thursday also approved a second resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activity and called upon it to withdraw to the pre-1967 line. This included leaving the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria during the Six-Day War.

Some 157 nations voted in favor of the text, seven opposed it and eight abstained.

All the European Union’s member states voted to support the resolution. The abstaining countries included: Australia, Cameroon, Fiji, Honduras, Paraguay, Papa, New Guinea, South Sudan and Tongo.

Those nations opposing the resolution were: Canada, Israel, Nauru, Micronesia, Marshal Islands, Solomon Islands and the United States.

Among the six resolutions was one, sponsored by Syria, which condemned Israel’s continued presence on the Golan Heights. It was approved with 105 nations in favor, six against and 58 who abstained.

Israel noted the absurdity of such a resolution at a time when the Syrian regime was using chemical weapons against its own citizens while Israel was treating the wounded of that conflict who managed to cross its borders.

The UN General Assembly is expected to approve another ten anti-Israel resolutions by the end of the year. source

“But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.” 2 Chronicles 6:6 (KJV)

 

THE GATHERING ONE WORLD RELIGION OF ANTICHRIST IS OBSESSED WITH USING AI TO COMPLETE TRANSHUMANISM SHIFT

And what about God? Their fourth tenet is that God is technical. “We are making God as we are implementing technology that is ever more all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful and beneficent. Geoethical nanotechnology will ultimately connect all consciousness and control the cosmos.” Transhumanism can also become the node connecting the theological of existing religions and the technological, and the Christian Transhumanist Association is a stark example.

SCIENCE FICTION, HOWEVER, IS QUICKLY BECOMING SCIENCE FACT—THE FUTURE IS THE MACHINE. THIS IS LEADING MANY TO ARGUE THAT WE NEED TO ANTICIPATE THE ETHICAL QUESTIONS NOW, RATHER THAN WHEN IT IS TOO LATE. AND INCREASINGLY, THOSE TAKING UP THESE CHALLENGES ARE RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL.

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” Revelation 13:11,12 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: After the Rapture of the Church, Antichrist will create a One World Religion with himself as the object of worship, but it will not be limited to worship of him alone at first. In the beginning, Revelation 9 tells us that people in the time of Jacob’s trouble will worship idols made by their own hands instead of giving glory and honor to the Living God of the Bible. Already that shift has begun as AI – artificial intelligence – is right now being applied to idol worship and dozens of new religions with tens of thousands of followers popping up all over the globe. 

How far should we integrate human physiology with technology? What do we do with self-aware androids—like Blade Runner’s replicants—and self-aware supercomputers? Or the merging of our brains with them? If Ray Kurzweil’s famous singularity—a future in which the exponential growth of technology turns into a runaway train—becomes a reality, does religion have something to offer in response?

On the one hand, new religions can emerge from technology.

In Sweden, for example, Kopimism is a recognized faith founded over a decade ago with branches internationally. It began on a “pirate Agency Forum” and is derived from the words “copy me.” They have no views on the supernatural or gods. Rather, Kopimism celebrates the biological drive (e.g. DNA) to copy and be copied. Like digital monks, they believe that “copying of information” and “dissemination of information is ethically right.”

“THE URGENT NEED FOR CHRISTIAN TRANSHUMANISM” BY MICAH REDDING:

“Copying is fundamental to life,” says their U.S. branch, “and runs constantly all around us. Shared information provides new perspectives and generate new life. We feel a spiritual connection to the created file.” Other emerging tech-connected faiths, however, embrace the more grandiose.

A recent revelation from WIRED shows that Anthony Levandowski, an engineer who helped pioneer the self-driving car at Waymo (a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet) founded his own AI-based religion called “Way of the Future.” (Levandowski is accused of stealing trade secrets and is the focus of a lawsuit between Waymo and Uber, which revealed the nonprofit registration of Way of the Future.)

Little is known about Way of the Future and Levandowksi has not returned a request for comment. But according to WIRED, the mission of the new religion is to “develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence,” and “through understanding and worship of the Godhead, [to] contribute to the betterment of society.”

It is not a stretch to say that a powerful AI—whose expanse of knowledge and control may feel nearly omniscient and all-powerful—could feel divine to some. It recalls Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” People have followed new religions for far less and, even if AI doesn’t pray to electric deities, some humans likely will.

The potential for an out-of-control AI has encouraged warnings from some of the biggest minds, including Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk—who tweeted that it could lead to World War III. Clearly no Luddite himself, Musk has compared the creation of AI to “summoning the demon,” and called for regulation and oversight of AI development, forming OpenAI, which looks for a “path to safe artificial general intelligence.”

Musk himself was named-dropped this week by Hanson Robotic’s empathic AI Sophia, when she was interviewed by Andrew Sorkin of CNBC this week. When asked about the danger she poses to humanity, she tells him, “You’ve reading too much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies. Don’t worry if you’ll be nice to me, I’ll be nice to you.” Not exactly the Golden Rule.

Add to these warnings a prospective human cult following—paying their tithes to AI and devoutly obeying their digital demiurge—and that apocalyptic future could include those humans who not only welcome, but also work toward our eventual demise.

BUT IS THERE A POSITIVE FATE FOR RELIGION AND AI?

Beyond possible new religions and warnings from icons of tech and science, artificial intelligence is also of interest to theologians who wonder what it means for faiths, particularly those that came into being when computing power was limited to the abacus.

“One thing that I think is interesting is the potential for an AI—our creation—to transcend us,” says James F. McGrath, the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University and author of Theology and Science Fiction.

“AND THE REST OF THE MEN WHICH WERE NOT KILLED BY THESE PLAGUES YET REPENTED NOT OF THE WORKS OF THEIR HANDS, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT WORSHIP DEVILS, AND IDOLS OF GOLD, AND SILVER, AND BRASS, AND STONE, AND OF WOOD: WHICH NEITHER CAN SEE, NOR HEAR, NOR WALK: NEITHER REPENTED THEY OF THEIR MURDERS, NOR OF THEIR SORCERIES, NOR OF THEIR FORNICATION, NOR OF THEIR THEFTS.” REVELATION 9:20,21 9 (KJV)

“The potential for AIs to transcend us and thus become our teachers to whom we look for answers to questions we cannot answer, including about God, is not hard to imagine,” says McGrath. But, he adds, “the historic answer in monotheistic religions is that the creation can never be greater than the creator.”

He notes, however, for Gnostics, humans can transcend the “creator/demiurge,” though “even then,” he says, “we have the potential to reunite with that source from which we stem. It is not surprising that Gnostic themes regularly surface in science fiction, and in particular those that explore AI.”

CURRENTLY, THE GREATEST EXPRESSION OF SCIENCE-FICTION-TURNING-REALITY IN TECH-BASED RELIGIONS IS FOUND IN THE FREQUENTLY OPTIMISTIC TRANSHUMANISM.

Transhumanism and its cognates are represented by organizations like the Humanity+ (formerly, the World Transhumanist Association) and Extropy Institute. In its purely secular form, transhumanists are those who see technology as an important part of improving the world, enhancing human physiology, prolonging life, and even leading us into a posthuman future.

Remember that brain chip? They exist—along with brain-computer interfaces—but are in their infancy. It represents the reality that humans are already becoming cyborgs. For some, this means there is the potential for an optimistic post human world.

OUR POST-HUMAN FUTURE | DAVID SIMPSON | TEDXSANTODOMINGO

The Terasem faith, for example, is futurist and transreligion, meaning it can be “combined with any existing religion.” Founded by Martine Rothblatt, creator of SiriusXM Satellite Radio and her spouse, Bina Aspen Rothblatt, Terasem adherents embrace love, see life as purposeful, and death as optional. They look to technology as a source for eternal life, focusing on “cyberconsciousness software, geoethical nanotechnology and space settlement.”

They foresee a future in which technology will extend life indefinitely by means of “mindfiles” of individuals—collections of our memories and emotions—which might then be transferred to what is called a “transbeman” (Transitional Bioelectric Human Being). Early attempts of their technology can be seen in Bina Rothblatt’s counterpart android, Bina48. (See Morgan Freeman’s interview with Bina48.)

And what about God? Their fourth tenet is that God is technical. “We are making God as we are implementing technology that is ever more all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful and beneficent. Geoethical nanotechnology will ultimately connect all consciousness and control the cosmos.”

Transhumanism can also become the node connecting the theological of existing religions and the technological, and the Christian Transhumanist Association is a stark example.

“Members of the CTA fall all across the conservative and liberal spectrum, and perhaps more importantly, all across the pessimistic and optimistic spectrum as well,” says Micah Redding, its co-founder and executive director.

“If there’s any broad idea that we’re united on,” he clarifies, “I’d say it’s the idea that we should be active and involved. New technological possibilities shouldn’t be simply feared and denied, but engaged and understood. Only in doing so will we be able to confront the challenges of the future, mitigate the risks, and take advantage of the opportunities to create a better world for us all.”

Redding is careful to insist, however, that he can only speak for himself.

“As I see it, Christian Transhumanism is grounded in compassion, and centers love as the key to the future of flourishing life,” he explains. “This puts us in contrast with any form of transhumanism which centers radical egoism.”

For Redding, transhumanism is a “Christian mandate,” recently calling it the next Reformation in an article at The Huffington Post. “We cannot be faithful to the Christian calling without ultimately embracing some form of transhumanism.”

Others share his optimism and are hard at work in crafting a theology of transhumanism. “I see transhumanism as a contemporary outgrowth of an ancient Christian vision of human transformation,” says Ronald Cole-Turner, the H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and author of The End of Adam and Eve: Theology and the Science of Human Origins.

HE TOO SEES PROMISE IN THE EMERGENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN TRANSHUMANIST ASSOCIATION.

“Using technology, today’s transhumanists want to enhance human beings in ways that sound suspiciously like the classic Christian expectation,” says Cole-Turner, “things like greater cognitive awareness, improved moral disposition, and increased overall sense of well-being, and a hope of endless life.”

For early Greek-speaking Christians, Cole-Turner says, “it was seen as a process of theosis or ‘becoming God,’ not in an ontological sense but in every other significant meaning of the word. Latin-speaking Christians used ‘deification’ to refer to the same thing.”

The idea of theosis—being transformed in union with God—is gathering steam among Christian scholars, he says, noting that it makes theological sense of transhumanism. “God is the ground or source of everything, working through the whole creation to bring people, communities, and all creation to its glorious fulfilment in Jesus Christ. It is a transformation of everything by every means.”

Others have found different routes to transhumanism.

“Transhumanism was the confluence of my interests in Buddhism, radical politics and futurism,” says James Hughes, the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Having worked for a Buddhist social development organization in Sri Lanka—and once ordained as a monk—Hughes moved to Japan and went into bioethics. He discovered he was a techno-optimist, and at heart, a transhumanist.

“I discovered the new World Transhumanist Association,” he says, becoming their first Executive Director, and writing Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future. But after a division over political perspectives, he and a few others in the WTA founded IEET, leading he and three others to work toward Buddhist concerns.

Among some of his transhumanist issues, he says, is nonhuman personhood rights. Organizations like the Nonhuman Rights Project already seek these rights for animals (e.g. apes and elephants). Likewise, Hughes says, transhumanists want to “base those moral standings on levels of consciousness, and extend them to enhanced humans, animals, and machine minds.”

Machines, in other words, may reach a point where they are considered persons and are protected by law.

Redding adds a theological dimension to this idea.

“It’s clear that artificial intelligence plays a significant role in the world today,” he says, “and thus must be factored into God’s eventual work of redemption. We don’t yet know whether that involves self-conscious AIs ‘coming to Jesus,’ because we don’t yet know the process by which an AI might become self-conscious.”

“If and when it does happen,” he adds, “it shouldn’t challenge Christian doctrine. If God can grant a soul to carbon-based lifeforms, God can grant a soul to silicon-based lifeforms as well.”

Redding shows that religious perspectives might only be limited by the theological imagination.

“I’m optimistic about a fruitful religious-transhumanist dialogue,” says Hughes. “The religious impulse is very creative, and there has been a lot of reconciliation to the Enlightenment within faiths, sometimes by adapting doctrine and practice, and sometimes by the emergence of new denominations.”

If any of this—from AIs to the copying of a mind—seems too much like science-fiction to be truly religious, just give this a little time.

“All religions were once new,” insists McGrath, paraphrasing Composers Datebook, “and they all tend to be viewed with skepticism and enthusiasm from different directions when they arrive.” source

WITCHCRAFT GOES MAINSTREAM AS DC-BASED ‘CITYWITCHES’ AIMS TO BRING THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC TO YOUR TOWN

Images of witches being veiled in darkness, casting spells over cauldrons endure, but a new generation of Wiccans and witches have established growing communities in D.C. and across the country.  Like other Wiccans and witches, Stephens has come “out of the broom closet” — a term that refers to publicly revealing one’s beliefs as a Wiccan or witch. They are fighting back against misinformation about Wiccans and witches.

TEIGHE THORSEN IS A 29-YEAR-OLD D.C. RESIDENT AND WITCH WHO COFOUNDED THE GROUP CITYWITCHES IN 2016.

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.” Deuteronomy  18:10-13 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Have you noticed that over the last few years, the fake news media has been running lots of “positive and uplifting” stories on the witch and wiccan communities? And just coincidentally, of course, they always seem to be right in time for Halloween. Gone are the pointy hats and wart-filled noses. Today’s witch is a ‘boss babe’ who is looking to ‘enhance her positivist’ by ‘connecting with the universe’. And if along the way she needs to cast a spell or two, what’s the harm? In every dispensation and in every age, God is against the black art of witchcraft in all its various forms. Today’s witch wants to put distance between themselves and the Devil, but that won’t work. The Devil is in the details.

To celebrate Samhain, a Wiccan festival that falls on the evening of Oct. 31, Washington, D.C. resident Elizabeth Stephens usually prepares a pot of jambalaya to honor her late grandmother and a plate of roast beef in memory of her parents. She marks the festival with witches and fellow Wiccans, who offer their own dishes as a part of the day’s feast. The table they set becomes patterned with platters that were the favorites of family members and friends.

As a part of the celebration, a black cloth is held above the heads of the attendees and cut with a knife through the center, representing an opening between the spirit and material worlds. After some time has passed, participants encourage the spirits to return to their realm and the cut in the cloth is sewn.

Images of witches being veiled in darkness, casting spells over cauldrons endure, but a new generation of Wiccans and witches have established growing communities in D.C. and across the country.

Like other Wiccans and witches, Stephens has come “out of the broom closet” — a term that refers to publicly revealing one’s beliefs as a Wiccan or witch. They are fighting back against misinformation about Wiccans and witches.

STEPHENS SAID SHE LOVES HALLOWEEN.

“It’s a celebration of the witch. You can have sexy witches, you can have scary witches, but it’s still a celebration of the witch. Even if the witch isn’t shown in a positive light,” said Stephens, a 37-year-old Wiccan who also practices witchcraft.

Teighe Thorsen is a 29-year-old D.C. resident and witch who cofounded the group CityWitches in 2016.

Thorsen said she created the group, which includes Wiccans, Pagans and other occultists, as “a place where the alternate outcasts of magic can actually come together and talk.”

“We’re getting a lot of youth, a lot of people generally under 30, although not always, who are trying to find somewhere in their life that they actually have power,” she said. “They’re trying to find it in something that is non-dogmatic and something that is just their own — mystical, different, badass and empowering.”

Since starting CityWitches, Thorsen said she has seen an increase in interest from those inspired by her magic, including the rituals she writes on her Instagram, and a rise in members on the group’s Facebook page.

On her Instagram, Thorsen posts pictures of and describes in detail her magical practices. In one photo, she set up candles around a pentagram, with tarot cards, amethyst crystals and feathers surrounding the shrine. She occasionally posts photos of herself that show her colorful hair and amulets of jade and lapis lazuli.

Witches have repeatedly captured Americans’ imaginations. “The Craft” and the “Harry Potter” series are all hits, along with television shows like “American Horror Story: Coven.” But the visibility can create problems with perceptions. “This Halloween version of witchcraft” has made people assume about what Thorsen’s practices are, she said.

“Those are fantastical interpretations of what a witch is, but there is a little bit of truth to it,” Thorsen said. “There are things that you can do to affect certain results around you that most people won’t pick up on but you know how to do it.”

ALL MAGIC INVOLVES COMPLETING CERTAIN THINGS, LIKE SPELLS, TO CREATE CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES THAT A WITCH WANTS, THORSEN SAID.

“It [magic] is a tool for personal development and empowerment as well as for changing your environment, for helping the people around you, and fear is never welcome. Fear is the antithesis of forward momentum,” Thorsen said. “What I practice in magic is fearlessness.”

Whereas witchcraft includes magical practices that can change from witch to witch, Wicca is a religion with a set structure, according to Penny Verin-Shapiro, a professor in the anthropology department at California State University, Fresno. Verin-Shapiro spoke to Wiccans and witches, studying their separate systems of beliefs, for her 2014 book “Central Valley Pagans.”

Verin-Shapiro found in her interviews with Wiccans and witches that many of them didn’t seem to fit into the religions that they followed previously and stumbled on something that made them want to convert. She said that the influx of information on the internet has contributed to more individuals identifying themselves within modern-day witchcraft and Wicca.

“It’s [the internet] made it a lot easier to find out information that was hidden before and to find a group, if you want to a group to work with or to learn from,” Verin-Shapiro said. “There’s just a whole lot more information out there now that is easily accessed.”

Along with the availability of information, a more accepting attitude toward other religions has allowed Wiccans and witches to be more vocal and visible with their beliefs, according to Verin-Shapiro.

“The general public has become more accepting that not everybody has to be Christian, that there are many ways to worship,” she said. “So it has become easier for some people to come out of the broom closet.”

Being “out of the broom closet” hasn’t always been an option.

For centuries, the word “witch” was associated with witch trials, including the famous Salem witch trials in the 17th century, which accused some of practicing and performing magic.

Witchcraft didn’t begin and end with the witch trials. From Caribbean Santería to Italian Stregheria to various voodoo practices in West Africa and Louisiana, witches have discovered methods to magic and medicine within themselves in the past and present.

Modern-day witches have created their own collection of magic practices, inspired by centuries of witchcraft from across the world, according to Laura, a 58-year-old Wiccan high priestess who asked News4 to withhold her last name because she does not want her children to be harassed because of her beliefs. She said she has considered herself a witch for more than 30 years.

“Within every faith, you can find some sort or form of magic worker or belief in energy, in that you are able to work with the energy forces,” Laura said. “Not all of those people would have necessarily called themselves witches, of course. But they were working with the same constructs.”

LAURA SAID SHE HAS BEEN INTERESTED IN MAGIC SINCE CHILDHOOD. SHE FOUND WICCA THROUGH A TEACHER, WHO SAID SHE COULD TRACE HER TEACHERS BACK TO THE FOUNDER OF THE MODERN-DAY WICCAN MOVEMENT.

Gerald Gardner, a member of the Masons, combined elements from ceremonial magic and folk tradition into what he coined Wicca, which means “to bend,” according to Laura. She studied different degrees of mastery in Wicca to become a high priestess.

“For me, it is literally seeing the giant web of life and how every touch upon it affects something else in ways that are often unexpected,” Laura said.

From honoring an earth goddess with a mindfulness about one’s effect on the environment to an awareness about the three-fold law, which says that any action put out into the world comes back to someone three times, the Wicca that Laura follows teaches her that “we fully responsible for our own words and that includes what goes beyond ourselves.”

Laura said that her teachings and traditions in Wicca aren’t all necessarily followed by other Wiccans or witches, who may observe a completely separate set of customs.

“If you talk to five witches, you are going to get ten different answers,” she said.

LAURA HAS HEARD OTHERS DESCRIBE WHAT THEY THINK HER RELIGION IS ABOUT: DANCING NAKED, WORSHIPING THE DEVIL AND SACRIFICING ANIMALS. THOSE IDEAS ARE FAR FROM THE TRUTH, SHE SAID. SHE SAID SHE KNOWS A MAN WHO LOST VISITATION RIGHTS TO SEE HIS CHILD BECAUSE A JUDGE MISCONSTRUED HIS BELIEFS WITH SATANISM.

“I’ve had people not take me seriously. I’ve had people be very condescending to me. ‘Are you a good witch or a bad witch?’ kind of thing. I kind of looked at them and said … ‘Find out,” Laura said.

Stephens too said she has seen how stereotypes have seeped into how people understand her beliefs. Once, when she was reading a Wiccan book of spells at a McDonald’s, a cashier asked her about the book. While Stephens explained her faith, the cashier told her that “Evil never makes sense.”

“It was the worst experience that I’ve had as a witch,” Stephens said.

Still, in the coven of three other witches that she’s a part of, Stephens has found a family that she sees almost every week in Virginia.

“A lot of people think that we’re evil, that we’re spawn of Satan, that we worship the devil. We don’t even believe in hell, much less Satan,” Stephens said. “We’re people. We have as much variety within ourselves as a group as any other group.”

“We’re not all painted with one brush. There are witches that I would not associate with, but there are Christians that I would not associate with and Muslims and Jews and Hindus and Sikhs,” she added. “Every faith has its own share of bad apples. But just because there are a few bad apples does not mean that we are all bad apples.” source

Schools Across England Removing All Calendar References To Jesus Christ By Switching To CE And BCE • Now The End Begins

The traditional terms BC, Before Christ, and AD, Anno Domini, are being ditched for BCE – Before Common Era, and CE – Common Era. The new terms still denote the periods before and after the birth of Christ. Local authority committees drawing up religious education syllabuses say the old terms may upset minorities or non-believers. But critics blasted the move as a ‘capitulation to political correctness’.

Schools across the country have stopped using the terms BC and AD in religious education lessons for fear of offending non-Christians.

“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:16 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: For hundreds of years, the world has used a calendar where each and every year is a direct reference to Jesus of Nazareth. Now in the country from whence the King James Bible first came into being, those references – AD and BC – are being removed from all calendars in the school systems. It is being replaced with CE for ‘common era’ and BCE ‘before the common era’ so favored by atheists, agnostics and Jehovah’s Witnesses. As we get closer to the Rapture of the Church, the world being left behind is preparing to meet Antichrist.

The traditional terms BC, Before Christ, and AD, Anno Domini, are being ditched for BCE – Before Common Era, and CE – Common Era. The new terms still denote the periods before and after the birth of Christ.

Local authority committees drawing up religious education syllabuses say the old terms may upset minorities or non-believers. But critics blasted the move as a ‘capitulation to political correctness’.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey said the rulings by the religious education committees were a ‘great shame’.

Muslim and Jewish leaders were also mystified, saying they were not offended by the familiar terms.

Local authority committees – known as Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education (SACREs) – from Brighton and Essex are among a growing number urging heads to ditch BC and AD.

The syllabus for schools in East Sussex, for example, reads: ‘BCE and CE are now used in order to show sensitivity to those who are not Christians.’

Lord Carey said: ‘I have never met a Muslim or Jewish leader who is offended by the Gregorian calendar’ while leading Imam Ibrahim Mogra said: ‘I don’t believe it causes Muslims offence.’ A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: ‘I don’t think anyone would mind if in mainstream schools they use BC and AD.’

Chris McGovern, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: removing BC and AD ‘is a capitulation to political correctness’.

National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education chair Paul Smalley said: ‘Individual SACREs and schools can make a judgment over which form of dating is appropriate.’ source

 

Source: Schools Across England Removing All Calendar References To Jesus Christ By Switching To CE And BCE • Now The End Begins